#jin bao marries a wife

[feychild1225]

Jin Bao’s first impression of Siming and Xiao Bao’s first impression of Huai En.

[theoncomingchaos]

Si Ming x Jin Bao official novel pt 3

Some scenes I liked or found interesting from chapters 7 -15

-Ok, so apparently he wasn't kidnapped just taken home. Jin Bao got really sick for a month though and after that he had a lot of memory problems which is why he doesn't recognize Si Ming later. He also started having trouble remembering things without reminders.

-Jin Bao is sold when the Jin family is looking to pay for a playmate for Xiaobao. His family is starving and homeless at this point. His 3 year old sister is sick. They planned to sell his older brother, but the Jin family wanted someone Xiaobao's age.

-First meeting with Xiaobao & Zhao Cai: Jin Bao falls asleep after eating a lot and wakes up with Xiaobao sitting on his stomach, writing on his face. Zhao Cai watches and laughs.

-Zhao Cai sneaks him food after he spends the day crying. (He realized he's been sold) He also walks Jin Bao in circles outside until he's tired enough to sleep. (He can't sleep, just cries.)

-Xiaobao treated them like brothers <3

-Si Ming's opera mask returns.

-Growing up, Si Ming wrote about his memories of Jin Bao and drew him, so he wouldn't forget. Those memories were his happy place after his father's execution. It makes it hurt all the more that Jin Bao has forgotten him. (He doesn't know about the long fever and brain damage, so he thinks Jin Bao just forgot him normally.)

-Jin Bao gets stuck with all the chores because Zhao Cai is too lazy and they couldn't hire maids because Xiaobao is perv and would probably sleep with them ><

-Jin Bao's top 3 hottest guys in no particular order: Si Ming (Devilish beauty), Su Yin (Pine), and Huai'en (Moon). Literally every person he thought was hot in this entire book has been a guy and he still as the audacity to be confused when he kisses a guy. (Edit: he does show attraction to Chan'er later, so he is bisexual after all).

-The responsibility line came into play! Si Ming said anyone who saw him without his mask had to take responsibility. He took off his mask and kissed Jin Bao while he was in the tub. Naked Jin Bao flies out of the tub and ATTACKS HIM kicking and punching.

-JIn Bao agrees to sleep with him so he'll help Xiaobao =( Si Ming wants to make him remember, and if he can't, he wants to punish him and give him memories he can't forget. He feels really embarrassed for pining his whole life over someone who has forgotten him. He's also angry because Jin Bao was the one who wanted to get married and made promises, and now he is disinterested.

-Zhao Cai meets a girl in the medicine shop! Her name is Xiao Rou!! She actually gets to meet Jin Bao and it looks like she and Zhao Cai are trying to hook him up with her cousin Chan'er.

-Si Ming is ALSO caught up in some sort of intrigue. He's got a blood curse and a family after him. I think it's the doctor from before. He wants revenge for his father. So he brings something to Shao Yu who also wants to deal with that family because they threaten the throne. The blood curse left red vines around his eyes which is why he wears the mask.

-omg...in the book Shao Yu is 11 or 12?!?!!? No wonder he acts like a child in the series. He IS a child.

[dreamcatcherphenomenon]

Does anyone know what happened to Kipzi’s Wattpad account? They are pretty much acknowledged as the main English translator for BFSS and JMW.

All links to their translations and profile are just gone today.

After they posted like 6 chapters of Jin Bao Marries a Wife yesterday.

[onlyonewoman]

A few hours ago I made the mistake of reading "Jinbao marries a wife" and I regret it. Look, if you have a rape fantasy kink, then yeah, sure, but for the love of Lan Wangji, this wasn't some incence burner embarressment, it was countless rapes over 34 chapters and Que Siming was such an asshole it was depressing. I'm eternally grateful MYATB transformed him into a person who's most aggressive move was to hold on to Jinbao in shock from seeing the bracelet. Men being raped isn't fun or hot. It's just that: rape. Like...what is it with BL writers and their idea of sex scenes? I can't wrap my head around it. And now I will make a mighty eyeroll worthy of Zhao Cai at this tiresome trope and decide that AO3, as per usual, will make it up to me. I will also send my most grateful thoughts towards all the people working on MYATB who decided to take the rapist out with the trash and make a sassy wine aunt out of him - like a good fanfic writer

[sombredancer]

Asian dramas and Love tropes

There are my favorite characters and their love stories as a list. Enemies to lovers

Drama: Her Royal Highness/长公主在上 Characters: Gu Xuanqing x Li Yunzhen Screentime: Main A boy is sent to be a servant in the unruly princess`s palace in order to find some dirt about her and to help his master to overthrown her, but something goes wrong... The HE is attached.

Drama: The Legends/招摇 Characters: Li Chenlan x Lu Zhaoyao Screentime: Main A leader of a demonic sect died trying to get demonic sword. Her soul returns to the world full of wish to get revenge on the current leader of her sect, who, as she thinks, killed her in the past. Found the way to be close to him, she learns that he wasn't the reason of her death and, moreover, desperately in love with her for many-many years. This is an adaptation of the novel "Ostentatious Zhaoyao", which I love more than a drama, but it's a good story in both variants. The HE is attached (although it`s a little bit obscure in the drama).

Drama: Till the End of the Moon/ 长月烬明 Characters: Tantai Jin x Li Susu Screentime: Main A boy who is destined to become a Demon God and to destroy the World tries to fight his doom. In a process, he falls in love with a transmigrator, who was sent 500 years back in the past to prevent his transformation into a Demon God. The irony is,making him falling in love is the only way to kill him for good... It`s an adaptation of the novel "Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script", which I like way-way-way more than the drama, not the least because the drama has BE and the novel has HE. I just watched it as a visually beautiful fanfic to the novel.

Drama: Love Between Fairy and Devil /苍兰诀 Characters: Dongfang Qingcang x Xiao Lanhua Screentime: Main My favorite drama of all times! Trying to save her love, a girl accidently falls into a secret prison for immortal criminals, revives the most fearsome demon of all times and heals his ability to feel. Later, forced to spend his time together with the girl from the enemy camp, the demon finds out that he actually likes her... The HE is attached. I wrote A LOT about them and made recap of the whole drama from the point of their relationship development in these posts: one, two, three, four, five and six.

Drama: My Journey to You /云之羽 Characters: Gong Shangjue x Shangguan Qian Screentime: Secondary In order to destroy the martial artist's clan, a female assassin was sent in there. While she is trying to seduce one of clan's young masters, he tries to expose her lies, but, eventually, falls in love with her. Unrequited. Maybe. This story has an open ending. My analysis of their relationship is here.

Drama: Butterflied lover /风月变 Characters: Ling Changjin x Bao Zhu Screentime: Secondary A wicked nobleman marries a princess because of her miraculous blood: it`s able to bring his zombie sister back to life. The princess allows him to treat her bad because she has been in love with him for a long time and believes he is a good person. Bit by bit he starts believe in it himself and begins to cherish his wife more... The ending is obscure (in a traditional Chinese way).

Drama: The Blue Whisper /与君初相识 Characters: Li Shu x Xue Sanyue Screentime: Minor A cat demon prince infiltrates the valley of demon hunters in order to set free the great demoness, but falls in love with one of demon hunters. Mutually. The ending is traditionally Chinese - they met again in another life. Т_Т

Drama: Immortal Samsara / 沉香如屑 Characters: Xuan Ye x Ran Qing Screentime: Minor An Asura king infiltrates the Heavenly Realm in order to steal the artifact that can help him conquering the world. The keeper of this artefact is a brave and honest goddess and he can't help but fall in love with her. After, he needs to choose: to be with his lover or to rule the world. He wants all at once, but there is no way to get it all. No HE for this pair. Pride and Prejudice

Drama: Lighter and Princess / 点燃我 Characters: Li Xun x Zhu Yun Screentime: Main A girl from a rich family with an anxious type of attachment falls in love with her classmate from a poor family with an avoidant type of attachment and tries to win his heart. It`s a problematic ship in a full meaning of these words and I like it this way. Yummy! The HE is attached.

Drama: Derailment /脱轨 Characters: Qi Lian x Jiang Xiaoyuan Screentime: Main A boy accidently meets his school sweetheart after many years of radio silence and understands that something is wrong with her. It turns out that her body is occupied by a transmigrator from a parallel world. At first he hates transmigrator for replacing his lover, but bit by bit he learns, that a transmigrator has not only the same appearance but the same habits and way of thinking, and falls in love with this new personality again... The story ends with HE but not in a way that you may think it would.

Drama: The Love by Hypnotic /明月照我心 Characters: Li Qian x Li Mingyue Screentime: Main In order to build relationship between two countries an emperor arranges marriage for his son. His fiancée is from a barbaric tribe: she is good at horse riding and archery, but knows nothing about palace etiquette and ladies stuff. It`s a light and sweet story about finding a path to each other's heart. The HE is attached.

Drama: The Long Ballad /长歌行 Characters: Hao Du x Li Leyan Screentime: Secondary A tsundere of a low background with a poker face does his ruthless job in a court, that's why a young princess thinks he is an awful man and is scared of him. But in reality he is a loyal servant and son and, moreover, secretly in love with the princess, who can't stand him... The HE is attached.

Drama: Miss the Dragon /遇龙 Characters: Xue Qianxun x Qingqing Screentime: Secondary A very naïve bird demon girl accidently meets a tsundere god of netherworld and turns his well ordered life into havoc. He starts liking it, though. The HE is attached. Forbidden love

Drama: A Frozen Flower /쌍화점 Characters: Hong Rim x No Guk Screentime: Main A gay king needs a heir, so he forces his lover to conceive a child with a queen. In a process, a boy, who was groomed as a king's lover from his childhood, finds out that he likes women much more than men. A traditional Korean tragedy. Very beautiful and full of feelings, though. (No GIFs because they all would be erotic ones).

Drama: 100 Days My Prince /백일의 낭군님 Characters: Moo-yeon x Kim So-hye Screentime: Secondary An assassin who is working for a wicked court official is secretly in love with a wife of a crown prince, who happens to be a daughter of the killer of his parents. Forbidden love doubles! But it's mutual, unfortunately for him. It's a very beautiful and full of desperation and feelings story. No HE, we die like Koreans. More detailed story of their relationship is available here, here and here.

Drama: The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity/晴雅集 Characters: He Shouye x Zhang Ping Screentime: Secondary A woman, who is destined to restrain the undying evil within her body for eternity in solitude, falls in love with Yin-Yang master. Her love is mutual, but her lover can't be with her forever, so he leaves with her his guardian demon to brighten her loneliness. Protecting her for ever starts being the only goal of demon's life... A tragedy, but a beautiful one.

Drama: The Legends/招摇 Characters: Gu Hanguang x Shen Qianjin Screentime: Minor "The Legends" once more! The main doctor of a demonic sect is in love with a leader of a righteous sect. A girl is not allowed to love anyone, otherwise she will suffer from the poison, so he anonymously sends her packages of medicinal herbs. She is curious about anonymous sender, too. But nothing can be kept in secret forever... Unfortunately, no HE for these two. In the novel he is safe and sound, but he has no love plotline at all. So is a price of love Т_Т.

I will talk about my other favorite characters and tropes in the next post.

Also you can see: Enemies to Rivals/Lovers recipe Asian dramas and relationship dynamics (Pt. 1) Asian dramas and relationship dynamics (Pt. 2) Asian dramas and my favorite types of characters

[dramaticviolincrescendo]

BFSS vs. MYATB

I had some Thoughts(TM) after finishing “Blooming Flowers, Silent Sorrow” and thought I’d put them out into the universe.

I’m definitely glad that I read the book and plan to start “Jinbao Marries a Wife” after the extra episodes air. That being said, this is nevertheless one of the rare occasions where I actually preferred the show to the novel. I have already rewatched the series more times than I care to admit publicly, but I don’t really see myself reading the book again unless an official English translation is released to see the approved wording and whether anything was left out of the translation I read.

For anyone who plans to read and wants to avoid spoilers, I’ll hide the rest below the cut. If you loved the book, no worries—this won’t be a negative review!

The Story

I’m extremely impressed that the story is basically the same and, in parts where it isn’t, maintains full fidelity to the original plot and characters. Like MDZS and The Untamed, there were some plot points that got shuffled around in order to suit the medium of television rather than written narrative—and only twelve episodes of television, at that—but it didn’t alter the essence of the story or even the overarching plot at all. Some events were consolidated where it made sense (ex., finding Zongzheng Yuzhan’s dahlia and escaping with Xiaoyu), and others were fragmented in a manner that allowed us more time to get to know the characters (ex., Xiaobao delivering the medicine and their intimate moment in episode three being at two different times). Even Xiaobao’s illness, which was shortened to the spring rather than the following autumn, was still written and portrayed in such a way that you really felt the passage of time and how excruciating it could be when finding the dahlias before their window passed was at the fore of everyone’s minds.

There are a few points, however, where I feel like the show was able to add something to the narrative that I found I missed when reading the book, while I didn’t encounter anything while reading that I really wished had made it into the show. To be honest, given how few episodes they had to tell this story and how important pacing was as a result, that really surprised me. Here are some things that come to mind:

Toning down the non-con elements. While the show depicts those moments as almost more of a non-con initiation transforming into something more tacitly consensual as it progressed (or dubious consent due to drinking or drugging), the book really stuck to the non-con focus of their interactions. I was surprised how long it remained that way, as well as how much more Huai’en pushed it by trying to initiate things after the betrayal and poisoning. I know a lot of that is due to the medium—in a show of this nature, I’d have been more surprised if they’d kept it the same. It’s just something I preferred about how it was depicted in the show and felt made the romance a little more believable as it evolved so quickly.

More conversations between Xiaobao and Huai’en. As with the last point, it made the budding romance more believable for me, not to mention adding that extra bit of heartbreak when Huai’en betrayed Xiaobao. In the book, he doesn’t mention anything about his family history or his father after Jin Bao’s asthma crisis; much of what Xiaobao learns about Huai’en doesn’t come up until the latter is already gone. Sharing the truths (or what Huai’en thought were the truths) of his past added to the half-truths of what he’s doing in Jiangnan created a much deeper sense of manipulation for me and added to the weight of both what he does in episode six as well as how he still tries to keep the Jins alive in the aftermath.

The overall character growth. I’ll put more on this in the characters section, but I was left feeling a little disappointed at the end of the book in a way I wasn’t when I finished the show. It’s not that the growth was bad or missing, just that it didn’t feel as deep as the show for me. At the end of MYATB, Xiaobao is more mature and mindful of what his family needs and his own responsibilities in making that happen; in BFSS, he’s mostly acting like a young master again, gallivanting around with Huai’en and bemoaning how useless he can be. In MYATB, Huai’en grows to care about more than just Xiaobao, even though Xiaobao is still his true north; in BFSS, he’s seriously considering killing Xiaoyu out of jealousy in the last few chapters while rescuing her. In MYATB, Su Yin is angry at the situation, not with Xiaobao, and eventually comes to terms with the idea that Xiaobao has matured and can be trusted to make his own choices; in BFSS, we don’t really see the closure to that disagreement, which was one of my favorite scenes in the finale. Again, nothing wrong with how the book portrayed things, but I felt there was a certain growth in these characters in the show that I’d have liked to see mirrored there.

Xue Tong’en’s ubiquitous presence. She’s startlingly absent in the book while her presence in the show seems to be the backdrop to everything. Zongzheng Yuzhan’s obsession and even madness are palpable in the show, and his strange hatred for yet attachment to Huai’en is especially moving. All of that was absent in the book except for a couple of mentions in the overall narration and Zongzheng Yuzhan’s unwillingness to relinquish Xiaoyu. I just didn’t feel it like I did while watching MYATB.

Their strange but heartwarming little found family. My jaw dropped to see Zuoying and Youying peace out during the final battle, leaving Huai’en to fend for himself, and Zhaocai have an off-screen love interest he was determined to marry before he, too, caught a case of bisexuality. (His sentiment, not mine.) No tearful farewells after a year of huddling together for survival? No beautiful little scene of Huai’en’s two shadows keeping him alive until help arrived? No Zhaocai-Xiaoyu tag-teaming to interrupt Xiaobao and Huai’en at every turn? Don’t get me wrong—the two of them going off on their romantic road-tripping was satisfying, but… Well, as someone who sees platonic and romantic relationships as equally important, I was a little sad to see that it’s just…them.

First, the raid; next, the cure. Having Xiaobao’s remedy come last made Huai’en’s journey feel like there were higher stakes for me. In the book, it’s like tying up a loose end—“bring back Xiaoyu, and I’ll fully forgive you.” In the show, Huai’en gets to see what’s at stake and can make the conscious decision to inconvenience and further endanger himself by taking Xiaoyu away. He knows Xiaobao still loves him and has to just sit there helplessly while he continues to go through episodes that leave him unconscious for hours or days; he has to leave without saying goodbye, with no prompting from Xiaobao to bring Xiaoyu back or ultimatums on his forgiveness. And if he failed? In the show, that’s it for Xiaobao; in the book, it’s just whether his sister comes home, which Huai’en isn’t as bothered about even if he’s willing to die for it. For me, it read as a little more…transactional in the novel, so it wasn’t quite as emotionally stirring. Plus, waiting until later to heal Xiaobao meant Su Yin and Huai’en had to work together after everything that happened between them, which may have gone a long way towards that reconciliation I mentioned.

Li Gongxiang. …That’s it. ‘Nuff said.

All the little things that made the characters more real. Obviously, visual mediums are going to fill in personalities in ways that written narratives can’t, but MYATB did so in such a way that I deeply missed those details when they weren’t there. Zhaocai and Jinbao’s odd sleeping arrangements. Xiaobao and the dancer…and the guy in the restaurant… Shaoyu coming back to stake his claim only to get out-bratted by Xiaobao. Youying royally screwing up and putting the Jins on alert, necessitating an in-universe convoluted plot to make it seem like a random jianghu misunderstanding. None of it was necessary, no, but it was fun and made me care more about the characters as I watched. The only moment like this in the book that really stood out to me was Su Yin tickling Xiaobao into submission, which was honestly amazing. In any case, adding depth to the supporting characters that wasn’t there in the book added more to the main characters as well, so I missed those small details as I read.

The Characters

I know it seems like I covered that already, but there were a couple of specifics that really stood out to me regarding character choices and personalities in the book compared to the show. As with the story, there wasn’t much I felt hadn’t been incorporated from the book, while there were elements from the show that I did miss seeing as I read. Overall, I thought the show did a fantastic job of taking who the characters were on a fundamental level in the book and enhancing them with certain narrative choices.

Huai’en: I am unspeakably grateful for whoever decided to age him up to 20. It facilitated the conversations he had with Xiaobao that deepened their relationship and made the romance more believable. With that added maturity, his cold manipulation makes a lot of sense for his character rather than the angry and violent outbursts that the teenage Huai’en in the book was prone to. Even in MYATB, Huai’en experienced a few of those, but they only came at pivotal moments and, as a result, had more meaning to me. (Note: not morally right, but still meaningful.) On another note, I was mourning the loss of his scene with the emperor as I read. The majority was still there, namely the blood test, dahlia, and refusing his title. However, exonerating the Jins was a huge moment that contributed to his reconciliation with Xiaobao and their ability to live happily later. For me, it was more moving to see him take that initiative in the show rather than have it offered to him as an incentive for providing information that could free Prince Shen later in the book.

Xiaobao: …It’s the word “lecherous.” I just can’t get past it! In the show, we’re made aware that he’s frequented brothels in the past, and no further details are given. His attempts to woo “Miss Zheng” are slightly sleazy, but they hardly count as “lecherous,” which I really liked. It’s more of a wide-eyed “she could kick my ass in any context and I’d thank her for it” situation than…well, “lecherous.” (Nope, still can’t get past it even when I use it.) With an aged-up Huai’en, I think that having Xiaobao be more of an adorable wannabe player matched a bit better. He was still that way in the book, but the sexual element was a lot more prevalent (namely trying to switch positions), while MYATB moved him past that very quickly.

Su Yin: As I mentioned above, I really mourned the loss of their closure. In the show, we see a Su Yin who goes through hell trying to avenge Xiaobao only to learn that he needs to take a step back and trust that Xiaobao can take care of himself. He isn’t that same spoiled young master who needs Su Yin to constantly come to his rescue anymore by the end, and Su Yin has seen Huai’en’s sincerity even if he will never be able to forgive Huai’en’s indiscretions himself. Su Yin is very similar in much of the book, but I felt that their roads diverged some after Xiaobao went to warn Huai’en about the trap at Chifeng Cliff. In BFSS, we never really see him get over that, and his anger is truly at Xiaobao—he even insults him multiple times. MYATB shows it as concern with Xiaobao’s self-esteem and seeming willingness to degrade himself, shortly followed by understanding and acceptance, however hesitant. I loved that growth for both Su Yin and their relationship, so I was quite disappointed that it wasn’t the same in the book.

Que Siming: This was a case where expectations didn’t meet reality. I’d heard from people who read the book how he was the only one rooting for Huai’en and Xiaobao, but…that wasn’t entirely the vibe I got. It was still there, as it was in the show, but perhaps it was his personality that made it a bit difficult to see. In the show, Que Siming is eccentric, self-serving, and arrogant. However, there are moments when he displays genuine emotion towards Xiaobao’s suffering and Huai’en’s fate that show he really does care, even if his taste for gossip outweighs most other things a lot of the time. In the book, he was mostly just mean. The self-serving arrogance was there, but I didn’t really see much else. It could have been lost in translation, and I’m sure I’ll have a better grasp of him after “Jinbao Marries a Wife,” but on the whole I was left feeling like he was one of the only characters who was extremely different and far more likable in the show. Props to Kou Weilong!

Xiaoyu: She is one of the other characters who felt extremely different between the two mediums, and I vastly prefer the show’s version. In the book, Xiaoyu almost didn’t even seem like a kid of only about ten. Her dialogue read like a young woman, and I have to agree with the book version of Huai’en that her feelings about Xiaobao were…uh…wow. I definitely preferred Su Yin alluding to a marriage as merely a parting shot at Huai’en. Of course, the context is important: in the book, the Jins already decided Xiaoyu would run the family business, and she was also aware of what had happened to the Xues and that she wasn’t actually a Jin. In those circumstances, it makes sense that she would have been groomed to consider this eventuality without much thought given to their brother-sister relationship beyond just always being together. Still, uh…very glad they didn’t go that route. It also meant she could be more of a child in MYATB and wage a war for Xiaobao’s attention against Huai’en without that loaded underlying meaning.

Zongzheng Yuzhan: In MYATB, he seems to have gotten an upgrade. Even more than just being an oftentimes off-screen, absentee antagonist, he was a character foil for Huai’en. We are meant to see that Huai’en’s understanding of love is twisted, as Li Gongxiang said, because his only example is his foster father’s obsessive and possessive form of love. What makes Zongzheng Yuzhan monstrous is that he can’t change. What makes Huai’en human is that he can. He could have been a monster—a beast, as Xiaobao calls him in the book multiple times—but he takes a different road. That road leads to direct conflict with Zongzheng Yuzhan and emphasizes their differences in a dramatic and captivating way. In the book, that conflict really isn’t there. Zongzheng Yuzhan very easily lets go of Huai’en being Zongzheng Yunlian’s son and urges him to be free until he comes back for Xiaoyu. Perhaps that’s the Zongzheng Yuzhan we’d have seen if Huai’en had visited him in prison, but that steady escalation of their differences until it reached a boiling point made the stakes in the second half of the show that much more impactful for me.

In all, I enjoyed BFSS. It was worth reading and did add a lot of insight into certain scenes that couldn’t possibly include dialogue, especially Xiaobao’s thoughts during poison episodes and his quieter moments as Huai’en insisted on proving what a joke Su Yin’s security was to him. (I’m imagining Su Yin with a clown nose and wig asking, “Am I a joke to you?” Yes. Yes, you are. But I love you anyway.)

Perhaps I’d feel a little differently if I’d read the book before watching the show. Having gone the opposite direction, though, I’m left astounded at how well MYATB took a book with over a hundred chapters, adapted it for the screen, enhanced both the plot and characters, and told the story in twelve episodes with time to spare for an extra fluffy epilogue. There was a lot of love put into the show, and while I did enjoy the book, that may have made all the difference for me.

[angstymdzsthoughts]

Still with the Nielan Baby AU. In the final act, Jin Guangyao, learning the truth about the kid got angry and asks bitterly to Xichen what "this barbarian who only knew violence as answer" had more than him. "were you ashamed of it if you didn't tell me"

Maybe he pretends the child was a mistake. Or that Mingjue takes advantages of Xichen because of his QI instability. Horrible things. Like if he didn't get himself married, didn't love his wife (before learning who she was for him). Maybe he's just bitter now because he had always wanted Xichen too.

Xichen is a wreck for obvious reason. He has been betrayed, captured, his spiritual powers sealed, his brother, nephew (Let's say Yuan is here) and son (+ all the others) are in danger and Jin Guangyao insults Mingjue's memory after have killed him and cut his body in pieces. He ruined his dream of a happy family, and Xichen lived the same thing than his mother (having his child taken away of him) but worse since it was barely a monthly visit that he had with his own child.

Little Bao is clutched to Huaisang, terrified. He doesn't understand why his uncle Yao is so angry suddenly. Why he says terrible things about his father and why uncle Xichen seems to sad.

Jin Ling forget his own pain and hug the child, telling him to not listen his uncle. He's in tears himself. Lan Sizhui gives comfort to his cousin too (he just learns who the kid was).

"Er-Ge, i wouldn't have taken your child away of you if it was me"

"No, because if you didn't kill Mingjue, it wouldn't have happened!"

Huaisang can't shut up "and considering that you have killed your own son, i doubt he would have been safe with you"

"If he had been mine, i wouldn't have reason to kill him because he wouldn't have been a disgusting incestous child!"

A-Ling cries even more because it was his cousin and it is so painful, he thinks to his aunt and how she was sad to have lost her baby and how she couldn't have another.

And A-Ling can't stop to wonder: Would his uncle Yao have killed him is his child wasn't the result of a incest? if he thought that he was a threat for his son?

Wei Wuxian is furious.

Lan Wangji has murder impulses.

Jiang Cheng is judging the hell of Jin Guangyao because "worse uncle and father EVER"

Jin Guangyao turns to the kid "A-Bao, do you knows how young your father was when he's dead? You'll live the same fate if you continue in the Nie way"

"You're the one who killed Dage!" yells Huaisang, furious. "you have no right to speak to A-Bao"

But the kid looks at JGY and says, with as much serious voice he can use: "i know the fate of my father and my ancestors but Bobo and Uncle Xichen makes sure that it will never happen to me! I'm the futur sect leader Nie and i'll make my father proud.

"Uncle" JGY laughs "are you aware that it's your other parent"

Bao looks at him, tears in his eyes "Yes. Bobo tells me. Yesterday. "

.

[megashadowdragon]

TIL: Zhu Youcheng is the only emperor in Chinese history, to be married to one wife and remain faithful to her, having no concubines. He was a hardworking emperor, lowering taxes, reducing spending, and demonstrating tolerance for Muslims. His son, however, had a haram so large, some starved.

Flares117 OP · 6 mo. ago He was regarded as one of the greatest emperors working hand and hand with officials. It was noted that there was almost no palace intrigue by the eunuchs or power struggles.

His son was given the best education and teaching on how to follow in his father's footsteps, but he loved brothels and hated his wife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongzhi_Emperor

He was a party boy with "The Zhengde Emperor took up a luxurious and prodigal lifestyle and indulged himself in women. It was said that he liked to frequent brothels and even created palaces called "Bao Fang" (豹房; literally "The Leopards' Chamber") outside the Forbidden City in Beijing initially to house exotic animals such as tigers and leopards for his amusement and then later used to house beautiful women for his personal enjoyment.[3] He also met Wang Mantang, one of his favorite consorts at a Bao Fang. On one occasion he was badly mauled while hunting tigers, and could not appear in court audiences for a month.[2] On another occasion he burned down his palace by storing gunpowder in the courtyards during the lantern festival.[2] His harem was so overfilled that many women starved to death due to lack of supplies.[4]"

Imagine having a haram so large, you dont have enough food for all your waifus

The Mongols had a LOT of conquerors though. There was only one Alexander, but there were dozens of great Mongol generals.And to make things better, the Mongol Empire coalesced at precisely the time when the Number 1 breaker of steppe empires, China, was in no position to fight them thanks to a horrible civil war and the dumbest goddamned Dynasty to ever rule the country.It also helped that the other great horse riding empire, the Muslims, were basically in pieces at the time. So the Mongols could easily defeat them one at a time.They weren't quite as lucky when fighting empires that were perfectly fine tho. The Indians beat them so easily that they barely even remember fighting them at all. The Vietnamese utterly humiliated them, hilariously so.

Song Dynasty. Idiots literally funded the Mongols after Genghis Khan died, which should have led to the empire collapsing, and then got attacked once the Jin had been destroyed by the Mongols.

Their own military also sucked, because the entire court was basically working for the enemies, and the generals constantly had to relay each battle's strategy to the court even when the battles were days away, which mean they almost always lacked any initiative.

If it had been literally ANY other dynasty, they could have finished the Mongols off. It's not like Genghis Khan was the first steppe conqueror China had faced. But the Song constantly kept snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and ensured all of China got conquered by foreigners for the first time in history.

You have to be more specific. The basic story of China is about 6000 years of a cycle of a competent emperor coming to power, each successive emperor in the dynasty is worse than the last, it gets to a point where the emperor is a legendary assclown, horrible things happen to the Chinese people, and then a rebellion/coup happens and there’s a new emperor.

Those were not his accomplishments, those were just some of the tools he used to set up his accomplishments.I can't argue that if not for daddy dearest, Alex wouldn't have been able to start to become a great conqueror until he was in his 40s.

[stiltonbasket]

I would kill to see a first meeting between lwj and qs!wwx

The first thing Wei Wuxian does after escaping the Jinlintai is go to a backwater inn in Changlun and get himself roaringly drunk.

Getting out of Lanling had been a nightmare; Jin Guangyao expected his wife to travel with a retinue and a couple of faithful maids, so Wei Wuxian had to dismiss them early after crossing the border of the Qin sect. And after that, he left a letter to Qin Cangye with one of the man’s retainers, explaining that he (or rather, Qin Su) would be heading to a ladies’ purification retreat to pray for the conception of a healthy second child.

Even if word gets back to Jin Guangyao about his illicit excursion, he won’t be in any hurry to visit the place: especially not now that Lan Xichen has spoken on Qin Su’s behalf, advising Jin Guangyao to consider siring another heir after Jin Rusong’s passing.

“I’m a free man again,” Wei Wuxian mutters now, pouring a cup of cheap Changlun wine down his throat and glaring balefully at the brash party gathered around the next table. “Maybe I can find a tradesman going down to Moling tomorrow.”

Wei Wuxian isn’t dressed like a noblewoman; Jin-furen prepared commoners’ clothes for him before her death, and even suggested places of refuge where her face was not widely known so that Wei Wuxian could lie low while he figured out what to do next. But his predecessor was a very beautiful woman, whether she was clothed in fine silks and gold or not, and the local boys keep trying to come up to him and buy him jars of the house alcohol in an effort to catch him off his guard.

But Qin Su’s tolerance for wine is even better than his was, so Wei Wuxian ignores the men and drinks the jug behind the counter dry before hopping up onto the roof for a breath of fresh night air.

It’s the kind of night I would have spent playing my dizi back at Lotus Pier, he thinks, tracing the finger-holes of the rosewood flute he bought in Laoling. I would have played the lotus-harvesting song over the kitchen, and Shijie would have sung along, and then...

Mindlessly, he brings the dizi up to his lips and plays a few notes of the lullaby he used to hum to A-Yuan in the Burial Mounds, high and mournful and so achingly sweet that the notes almost seem to shiver as they strike the bones of his ear.

Xian-gege, the ghost in his memory giggles, chewing on Chenqing’s red-silk tassel before jumping into Wei Wuxian’s arms. Play for A-Yuan!

“I could play for you the rest of my life, A-Bao,” he whispers, as something white flashes along the path under his feet--probably a mouse, or the glow from a swiftly opened window spilling out into the darkness. “If you were still here, I...”

Suddenly, a broad, pale hand clamps down around his wrist, and Wei Wuxian tries to rip himself away, momentarily terrified that one of the men from downstairs had followed him up to the roof--but then he finds himself staring into a face he last saw at the edge of a cliff in Qishan, hanging three feet above his own and sobbing Wei Ying, Wei Ying, come back--

“Hah,” Wei Wuxian gasps, pitching dangerously towards the ground before two familiar arms arrest his fall. His lungs fill up with the scent of sandalwood incense, and when he looks up, the elegant lips of his former zhiji are already shaping his name.

“Is it you?” Lan Wangji chokes, taking Wei Wuxian’s face between his hands and looking him in the eye. “Wei Ying, you--you are back?”

“You’re mistaken,” Wei Wuxian babbles senselessly, trying to get to his feet; but Lan Zhan refuses to let go of him, and his white-clad body is shaking in the chill night air as if he were somehow feeling the cold, immortal master or not. “It’s not--I’m just a rogue cultivator, you’ve got the wrong person--”

“Hanguang-jun!” someone else screeches from below. Momentarily stymied, the two of them peer into the inn’s leisure courtyard, which appears to be empty save for a lone young man wheezing through his nose as he tries to catch his breath. “Hanguang-jun, what are you doing up there?”

And then the young man blinks, and stares at Wei Wuxian. “Qin-guniang?” he squeaks, reeling back in shock. “Hanguang-jun, she’s married! Take your hands off her at once!”

“Married to her brother. It does not count,” Lan Zhan says succinctly, which makes Wei Wuxian gasp again and kick him behind the knee in a pitiful bid for freedom. “Mo Xuanyu’s letter said as much. And besides, this is Wei Ying.”

“What?” the boy screams. “Have you gone mad, Lan Wangji?”

“Who’s that?” Wei Wuxian demands, momentarily distracted. “Why do you let him talk to you that way?”

“Jin Zixuan,” Lan Zhan tells him, taking the opportunity to wrap his arms around Wei Wuxian’s waist and fly them down off the roof. “Wei Ying. Come to our inn with us.”

This is going to be trouble, he laments, as Lan Zhan hauls him away by the sash of his dusty robes. What have you gotten yourself into now, Wei Wuxian!?

[book-a-bilia]

What book do you recommend?

Hello! I don't know what genre you prefer, so I've listed my favourites below, in no particular order.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (gothic, mystery, crime): I just finished reading it and honestly, I loved it. It is the story of a young woman who marries a widower, only to learn that there is a lot more to his late wife, Rebecca's story than what is let on. It is hauntingly beautiful and will give you the chills, and you wouldn't be able to put it down.

A Pho Love Story by Loan Lee (YA, Romance): I did not think I would end up enjoying a teen romance as much as I did while reading this. Linh and Bao belong to rival families who run pho restaurants. This is not just a love story imo, but much more than that. Also, food as a love language! This book will make you crave food a lot haha.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (fantasy, romance): The Night Circus is mystical, enchanting and alluring, to put it simply. Here is my review of it (non-spoiler).

Thorn by Intisar Khanani (fantasy, romance): Princess Alyrra is betrothed to Prince Kestrin, but when a mysterious sorceress exchanges her identity with someone else, she is faced with the tough choice to either live with her new identity or get her identity back. This book explores the theme of justice - what it means and what can really be called justice. Give it a read, Thorn really deserves more readers! (TW: physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault)

Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo (YA fantasy): You might have already read this duology, but if you haven't then pick it up right away! It is one of the best fantasies I have ever read. The world building is really good and the books pull you in.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (historical fiction): Based in 20th century Korea, Pachinko is a story of four generations spanning nearly a century. The narrative is immersive and gives a glimpse into the history of Korea and Japan. A must read if you like historical fiction, or if you're looking to get into this genre.

The Palace of Illusions and The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banarjee Divakaruni (Hindu mythology, retelling) : These are beautiful retellings of Mahabharata and Ramayana, the epic sagas in Hindu mythology, from the POV of the female characters - Panchali and Sita, respectively. The Palace of Illusions re-ignited my love for reading. You can find my review of The Forest of Enchantments here.

Circe by Madeline Miller (Greek mythology): Honestly, I will never stop recommending this book. I was feeling so many emotions after reading it that I created this blog to let them out. My review here.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind (fantasy fiction, magical realism): It is safe to say that this is unlike any other book you've ever read before. All I can say is that it's gonna titillate your olfactory senses. Here is my review.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Psychological fiction): Eleanor is one of my favourite fictional characters and reading her story is an experience. My review posted here.

How to Fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern (Romance): If you haven't discovered Cecelia's work yet, then this one is the perfect book to start with. It is my favourite book of hers. A very short summary and review is posted here. Some more of her works that you can check out are - P.S. I love You, Thanks for the Memories, A place called here and Flawed duology.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (historical fiction): I feel this line from the book about the 'Love Laws' perfectly sums up the plot - ‘the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.’ Arundhati Roy is a master story teller! A fair warning though, you would either love this book, or end up hating it. My review here.

These Violent Delights By Chloe Gong (fantasy, YA, historical fiction, Romeo & Juliet retelling): Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov - heirs of rival gangster families in 20th century Shanghai and former lovers, join forces in an attempt to save their city from a madness that starts consuming it's people. All I can say is that I absolutely LOVE this book and it is a must read for fantasy lovers!

Some more titles to check out:

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Veronica decides to die by Paulo Coelho

Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

It's not much since I haven't read an awful lot and I'm also a slow reader. I hope you can find something to enjoy from these :)

[siumerghe]

The lineage of the Tang imperial house and its problems

By the time of the Sui-Tang era, a person’s culture played a more important role than his race. The ethnic origin of the Yang (楊) clan of the Sui and the Li clan of the Tang did not have much to do with their policies. They might well have descended from prominent Han families, but it is certain that these clans, a few generations back from the dynastic founders, had lived in the Wuchuan garrison, north of Yinshan (陰山) mountain for quite a long period of time. This historical fact seems to have given rise to the suspicion that the Sui and Tang imperial houses were of barbarian origin. 

The suspicion about the origin of the Li clan had existed from the very beginning of the dynasty, because they had once had the hu surname Daye (大野). The Buddhist monk Falin (法琳) declared before Taizong that the Tang imperial house originated from Xianbei Tuoba Dadu (達闍 i.e., Li in Chinese) which was a noble scion of Yinshan, i.e., a barbarian lineage. Although Taizong reprimanded Falin, during the war of unification an enemy, Dan Xiongxin (單雄信), called Taizong’s brother Yuanji (元吉) a hu child, and a Tang minister Sun Fuqie (孫伏伽) let slip that when Gaozu Li Yuan was a child his friends were all queue-haired because the royal family was deeply imbued with hu custom. 

The in-laws of the royal family were completely of the hu line. Li Yuan’s mother was a daughter of Dugu Xin (獨孤信), the Grand Marshal of the Northern Zhou, and a sister of Empress Dugu of Emperor Wen of the Sui, making Li Yuan nephew-in-law to Yang Jian (楊堅) and maternal cousin of Emperor Yang (煬帝). Li Yuan married the daughter of Dou Yi (竇毅), who was of the Xianbei line and a prefectural commander of the Sui. The mother of Empress Dou was the elder sister of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou, Senior Princess Xiangyang (襄陽長公主).

The lifestyles of Taizong and his crown prince Chengqian (承乾) were not much different from those of the hu people. During the incident of Xuanwu Gate (玄武門), Taizong killed his younger brother Yuanji and made Princess Yang, Yuanji’s wife, his own; Zhu Xi’s remark on this behavior is well known. Chengqian followed hu custom as well. He stole and slaughtered cattle and horses, and acted like a Turk qaghan, eating with his guards, wearing Turkic clothes, and speaking Turkic. 

During Zhenguan period when the Tang royal ancestral temple was being set up, the ministers were discussing who should be the progenitor, and Yu Zhining (于志寧) objected to the suggestion that it be Li Gao (李暠). If Li Gao was their true ancestor, why would the early Tang emperors not want the family of Li Bao of Longxi (隴西), who were descendants of Li Gao, included in the imperial clan lineage? And why did Gaozong further lower the family rank of Li Bao? Thus it has been argued that the ancestors of the Tang imperial house must have been a degraded household of the Lis of Zhaojun (趙郡), or had just borrowed the surname of Li of Zhaojun [Li of Zhaojun - one of the Four Great families of Shandong, very influential in the beginning of the Tang era]. Given the fact that Gaozong suppressed Li Bao and did not honor the lineage of Zhaojun Lis, it is most likely that the actual pedigree of the Tang imperial house was quite different from what it claimed to be and that it was ethnically non-Han Chinese.

The Tang was ruled by the Han people in name, but in reality was a multi-racial regime, so the Sui-Tang dynasty was still seen as a Xianbei state by the nomads of Eurasia or the people from the western regions, and Tang was called Taugas, Tamhaj, or Tabgaĉ which stood for Tuoba. The dynasties from the Dai (代) through Northern Wei and on to the Tang are separate according to the Chinese-style names for dynasties, but in fact form a continuous Tuoba state. Considering the continuity and commonality between these dynasties, placing them under the single heading of the Tuoba state seems appropriate. In this aspect, westerners from the fifth to the ninth century who called China Taugas, Tamhaj, or Tabgaĉ, were closer to the truth. Taizong’s acquisition of the title “Heavenly Qaghan” after the destruction of the Eastern Turks, Gaozong’s being addressed thus by nomadic rulers, and the fact that the majority of the early Sui-Tang imperial clan and high officials came from the military leaders of northern tribesmen, all provide further support to the Tuoba state argument.

Fabricating history and the rise of the zhonghua sovereign 

The imperial houses of Sui and Tang saw themselves as traditional Han Chinese, although they were genetically descendants of nomadic tribesmen such as the Xianbei and others. But no matter how they identified themselves and their dynasties, few saw them and their dynasties as purely Han Chinese. It is clear now that the Li house of the Tang did not descend from a renowned clan, even if they had been Han Chinese. 

Why then did the Tang imperial house want to fabricate a lineage to appear as if it had been one of the renowned Han aristocratic clans? Throughout Chinese history, a certain degree of sinicization has been necessary for anyone or anything alien to come to China and earn a place there. This was the case for Buddhism as well as Nestorian Christianity, but this did not mean they ceased to be Buddhism or Christianity. In addition to the issue of sinicization, the Wei-Jin-Northern and Southern Dynasties era was an age of pedigree. 

Chen Yinke (陳寅恪) has raised questions about Taizong’s re-publication of the History of the Jin and his ordering the writing of The Record of Clans and Lineages in the Zhenguan Reign Period (Zhenguan shizu zhi 貞觀氏族志), suggesting that the motive behind the omission, among the Sixteen Kingdoms, of Former Liang (前涼) and Western Liang (西涼) from the History of the Jin was the same as that behind The Record of Clans and Lineages in the Zhenguan Reign Period: namely to exalt the Li clan of the Tang and prove that they had a long and glorious pedigree. Many dynastic histories were written during Taizong’s reign; these were generally dynastic histories from after the era of the Three Kingdoms or from the History of the Jin, now re-written to conform to Tang legitimacy. The Tang imperial house strove to dispel the doubt that they originated from the Xianbei Tuoba tribe, and influenced the planning and compilation of dynastic histories, sometimes even down to the wording of the contents. 

First, let us look at the chronological records (zaiji 載記) of the History of the Jin. There are thirty chapters of chronological records in the book. The name originated from The Eastern Watch Records of the Han (Dongguan Hanji 東觀漢記), written by Ban Gu (班固) under order of Emperor Ming, and the number of thirty chapters seems to have been taken from the thirty chapters of biographies of feudal lords and eminent people (shijia 世家) in The Records of the Grand Historian. While the shijia is a record for each feudatory, the zaiji is a chronicle for the independent political entities in China which were not enfeoffed by the Chinese emperor. By including the Sixteen Kingdoms with the zaiji, Taizong set them in a different category and treated them as extraneous to the legitimate Jin dynasty, clearly taking the Han Chinese attitude of degrading alien regimes. 

The source for Taizong’s History of the Jin was The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms by Cui Hong of the Northern Wei, and in this book one record was devoted to each state; notably, though, two states which were recorded in the Annals were omitted in the zaiji of the History of the Jin. They are Former Liang (301–76), which was established by a Han Chinese, Zhang Gui (張軌) of Anding (安定), and which occupied the Hexi corridor (河西回廊), and Western Liang (400–421) which was established by Li Gao of Longxi. The latter was the person later manipulated to become the ancestor of the Tang imperial house, and omitting him and his state was surely Taizong’s intention. 

Another example is the compilation of the History of the Southern Dynasties (南史) and the History of the Northern Dynasties (北史), which concealed two underlying intentions. The first was to tie the Southern Dynasties (南朝) and Northern Dynasties (北朝) into one term, the Southern and Northern Dynasties (南北朝). If Taizong had truly been in favor of the Han Chinese point of view, he could have given legitimacy to the Southern Dynasties; but he could not ignore his own racial origins in the Northern Dynasties, and thus merging the two was the better option. Second, by including the Sui dynasty, the unifier of China, among the Northern Dynasties, he wanted to minimize the credit they received for having accomplished that unification. 

Many histories were published in the early Tang. Taizong’s reign saw the compilation of the so-called History of the Five Dynasties, namely History of the Liang, History of the Chen, History of the Northern Qi, History of the Zhou, History of the Sui, and in 646 History of the Jin (these six historical works are known as the Six Histories). Then, during Gaozong’s reign, still under the shadow of Taizong, the History of the Southern Dynasties and the History of the Northern Dynasties were completed. Among the twenty-four histories that are considered official dynastic histories, eight—a third of the total—were published at this time. Taizong had opened up a new era in Chinese history publication by beginning the tradition of government-sponsored official history, and also by permitting the incumbent emperor to inspect the records about himself, something that had previously been forbidden, and giving instructions on how to write about the incident of Xuanwu Gate.

Taizong’s manipulation of history was along the same lines as Gao Huan (高歡) of the Northern Qi, who distorted history and transformed his family into the renowned Bohai Gao clan; but it was successful. Tang monarchs managed to transform themselves from racially and culturally hu rulers into zhonghua emperors to such an extent that people of later times accept without doubt that the Tang was a legitimate Chinese dynasty. 

Taizong’s satisfaction with the effectiveness of official histories is manifest in the edict ordering the re-publication of History of the Jin: “How great is the usefulness of historical books!”

Source:  From Barbarians to the Middle Kingdom: The Rise of the Title “Emperor, Heavenly Qaghan” and Its Significance by Han-je Park http://cces.snu.ac.kr/data/publications/jces3_2park.pdf

[feychild1225]

Poor Jin Bao. According to the novel, he fell into a bad fever after he and Siming were separated as children, which affected his brain. It's also why he forgot Siming and didn't recognize his name.

[theoncomingchaos]

Episode 11 vs. the Original Novel

The time line has gotten a little jumbled here, but key dialogue and moments are mostly the same.

Biggest Differences:

Huai'en gets the flower from Yuzhan's base first WITHOUT saving Xiao Yu. She is very clever in the book, so she puts a knot on the box that Xiaobao recognizes as hers. So, when Huai'en asks what he has to do for forgiveness, Xiaobao tells him to rescue Xiao Yu.

This also means that Xiaobao is healed BEFORE Xiao Yu is saved.

In the book, Huai'en breaks his mother's pendant in half so they each have a piece.

The battle was MUCH more brutal in the books. Huai'en faces off against all his old teachers (that crew following Yuzhan around) They are all masters and have this crazy formation they can do and they nearly kill him. Even when Prince Shen and others arrive, as he is escaping he still gets shot in the back with arrows, but he continues to cover Xiao Yu so she doesn't get hurt. Their horse also goes down. (They get another one). But it really showed just how far Huai'en was willing to go to try and earn Xiaobao's forgiveness.

Homophobia: The book doesn't have homophobia really. In fact, Xiaobao explains that a few years ago it was a big fad for people to have male lovers. Xiaobao wasn't really into it at the time, but he did try it because his friends kept pushing. He never fell for a man until Huai'en. So, while the homophobic comment is weird, Su Yin, DOES think that getting married and having children (which is what his best friend had always wanted) is still the best way for him to live a happy life. He still sees Huai'en as someone who can't be trusted and will just hurt Xiaobao again, so he is doing all of this to protect him.

In the book they make it very clear early on that Master and Madame Jin, as well as Xiao Yu herself, want Xiaobao to marry Xiao Yu. Xiaobao is NOT interested and only sees her as a sister. Su Yin, being close with the family and knowing how much they love each other, thinks this is a better future for him than being with Huai'en.

Xiao Yu does NOT forgive her adopted parents right away, but there is a feeling of one day she'll try to reconnect with them. So, having some note from the mother for her and having her wanting to go home to them is pretty different.

Si Ming & Jin Bao have no past together in the book, so this was MUCH better. I'm also really happy they included my favorite line about not touching other people before touching Si Ming.

Overall, I think not having Xiaobao ask Huai'en to rescue her makes it seem more like he is being caring and selfless on his own which is better character growth.

As for Su Yin, I stand with my cancelled wife.

We REALLY missed out on the banter between Huai'en and Xiao Yu. It is so good (unhinged):

With the wind whistling past her ears, Xiaoyu shouted, "If you can't hold on until I see my brother again, you're worthless."

Gritting his teeth, Huai En replied, "If I don't see him, you'll never see him again in your life."

"If my brother knew you killed me, even if you died, he wouldn't forgive you."

"I won't give him the chance to know if I kill you. He'll never find out."

[dreamcatcherphenomenon]

I haven’t seen anyone actually mention it on here, but, Shui Qian Cheng does have a book after Blooming Flowers, which, is currently being translated for English readers. It’s call Jin Bao Takes a Wife (or marries a wife) and it is about Jin Bao and Que Si Ming, starting with how they met.

I never read BFSS (beyond a bit of skimming), but I have started reading the translations for JBTaW because, now I have to.

So, fingers crossed the studio picks it up too :)

[wxnonsense]

The Wolf Early Eps Summary

Below the cut are detailed spoilers for episodes 1-11 of The Wolf. Proceed with caution.

I do recommend watching the first 2-3 episodes so you’ll be introduced to the main characters (and because they’re less annoying than the later parts). The time skip occurs ~18 minutes into episode 3 if you want to stop there.

Disclaimer: This is not a 100% complete and detailed summary but includes the things that stuck in my head after marathoning the first 11 eps and seemed significant enough to be worth mentioning. It may be that some things I thought were unimportant will come up again later, but this should at least give you the main points.

There is also some snarky commentary in my description. Please don’t take offense.

Notes: Wolfie = Prince Bo. I refer to him as Wolfie throughout but in the drama he’s called Prince Bo after the time skip.

We meet Ma Zhaixing, daughter of the castellan of Kuizhou, a nice guy, and younger sister of an annoying guy whose name I didn’t retain. Her mom is dead and it turns out that she was actually a princess (Ping Yuan) of the previous dynasty who her dad rescued, but he kept this a secret. (Zhaixing looks exactly like her mom, conveniently.)

We also meet wild child Wolfie who was raised by wolves on a mountain. He more or less doesn’t talk, but Zhaixing has befriended him and they hang out on the mountain and in Kuizhou. He has Magical Wolf Skills like being able to hear butterflies and smell stuff humans can’t and has a bunch of wolf sidekicks.

I’m unclear exactly how old Wolfie and Zhaixing (at this point called Xinger) are supposed to be at this point but I saw 15 somewhere. Anyway, they’re relatively young and are childish best friends with crushes on each other. Also, Zhaixing manipulates things so that people will stop hunting Wolfie’s wolf buddies on the mountain.

Then, a sworn brother of the emperor arrives in Kuizhou and says he wants to eat a wolf, so someone goes and captures the adorable CG wolf puppy. Wolfie is very angry and comes to rescue him. And…to be honest, I found this part confusing and I don’t care enough to figure out the details, but basically the sworn brother is killed and the wolf rescued, and Wolfie is blamed but he may or may not have been framed by a Ma family soldier.

The important part is that Zhaixing exposes the framing and the Ma family soldier dies, but Wolfie is still in trouble. Zhaixing wants him to run away, so she goes up on the mountain and says a bunch of mean stuff to try to get him to leave (but he doesn’t). Then people come looking for him and kill his wolf buddies. Zhaixing has a bell she uses to call Wolfie and her annoying brother steals it and claims she gave it to him, so Wolfie thinks she betrayed him. In the end, Wolfie falls off a cliff.

The emperor showed up before this to see what happened with his sworn brother, and at this point he says not to search for Wolfie. Turns out that this is because he wanted to find Wolfie himself and keep him as a foster son.

The other important point is that Zhaixing hurts her leg trying to rescue Wolfie and this prevents her from searching for him (though she still tries and makes it worse).

8 YEARS PASS

Wolfie is now Prince Bo, the third prince. (The oldest prince is dead and the youngest prince is in the kingdom of Qitan, so only princes 2 and 3 appear in this part of the story.) He’s magically learned to speak and behave like a normal human but still has wolf minions and some special wolf powers.

Zhaixing is still in Kuizhou and keeps rejecting suitors because none of them are Wolfie (and the ones we see suck anyway).

The emperor wants the Ma family army to follow him (I forgot the details). He sends Wolfie and his (non-wolf) minions Hai Die, Wen Yan and Mo Xiao to Kuizhou. The minions know the plan is to kill the entire Ma family except for Zhaixing, but Wolfie doesn’t. (The emperor says he’s too “soft-hearted.”) They successfully carry out this plan, knocking Zhaixing unconscious. Note that Wolfie does promptly find out about the Ma family being murdered but doesn’t (if I remember correctly) kill anyone himself.

Zhaixing is very traumatized and Wolfie goes to fetch some herbs to save her, and then there's a kidnapping and attempted rape, giving Wolfie a chance to save her (from a previous potential suitor who turns out to be a terrible person). She hugs him and cries and then he lies that he's definitely not Wolfie, just someone who happens to look like him

The killing of the Ma family was set up to frame the Jin Kingdom, but the Ma army leader was suspicious and he leads the army to stand outside the palace and threaten to attack unless the emperor swears he didn't arrange the killing. They don’t know Zhaixing is alive (and is convinced that Jin is responsible), so Wolfie has to rush their with her to the palace to prove that emperor's innocence.

That works and Zhaixing is invited into the palace, and the emperor announces that surprise, she's going to marry Wolfie (I mean, Prince Bo who is definitely not Wolfie). With that, the emperor will have the control of the Ma army that he wants. Zhaixing agrees to it partly because she doesn’t have much choice but also to keep the Ma army safe. The Ma army leader leaves his sister Ma Jin to be Zhaixing’s sidekick (since her previous servant sidekick was murdered and is never mentioned again).

I’m not going to go into detail but basically there's a bunch of pointless drama with Wolfie being a jerk to Zhaixing because he thinks she betrayed him back in the day. She thinks he’s a nice guy because he was kind to her while they rushed to the palace and also he saved her from the attempted rapist, but he is not nice at all.

We meet the Second Prince and his pregnant wife and his father-in-law the prime minister. He seems like a nice older brother who Wolfie gets along with well. But then it turns out there are rumors that he's not actually the emperor's son because his mom cheated with a cook in some other part of the country who is now a slave.

And then surprise, that slave comes to the capital to see his son and gets hurt defending a small child, and Zhaixing, being a nice person, brings him into the palace to get treatment, over Wolfie’s objections (because bringing strangers into the palace is bad).

He ends up making a nice dinner for the princes and their wives/fiancees that tastes just like Second Prince's mom's cooking before guards appear and arrest him, having found out who he is. And the second prince, who I guess is not so nice, and his father-in-law have the guy killed in prison before he can reveal the truth.

The emperor has Wolfie investigate and he finds out what happened, basically, and because the Zhaixing brought the slave into the palace and Wolfie let him stay in his part of the palace, Wolfie gets in trouble, and Zhaixing is punished by being forced to kneel outside for 3 days. This is very bad because of her leg injury from trying to save Wolfie back when they were kids and if she kneels too much she might be paralyzed!

(Sidebar: It’s not officially confirmed that the second prince isn’t the emperor’s son, only that his mom slept with the other guy at a time that would make that possible, and for now the secret is under wraps and his status doesn’t change. It’ll probably come up again later.)

And so Ma Jing goes and yells at Wolfie about that and (without knowing who he is) exposits in great detail the story about how Zhaixing tried to save Wolfie back in the day and was injured because of it and her brother stole her bell and so on. Wolfie realizes he was an idiot thinking she betrayed him and dramatically rescues her in the rain, even though it'll get him in big trouble.

So you would think Wolfie would be better now that he knows Zhaixing didn't betray him, but he's still kind of a jerk and also lies to her that he's definitely not Wolfie, for reasons I don't understand.

After all of that, we're introduced to the princess from Qitan, Bao Na who apparently developed a crush on Wolfie when he and Second Prince went there to deliver their brother as a hostage. (Not explicitly a hostage, but that's basically the point.) And surprise, she's coming to visit with very little warning.

They don't want to hurt her feelings even though Wolfie is extremely not into her because they need her dad to lend them troops, so Zhaixing volunteers to pretend to be a servant or something and hide that Wolfie is engaged.

The princess’ crush on Wolfie is ridiculous and it's not worth getting into, but basically she's extremely convinced that Wolfie loves her back. They go out on the town and he buys a present that she thinks is for her, but then he gives it to Zhaixing and the princess finds out and throws a temper tantrum and leaves.

Oh, and the second prince (who is now I guess fully evil) and his father-in-law manipulate the situation so that the princess will find out and get mad at Wolfie. (Zhaixing gets injured and Wolfie is worried, but I’ve forgotten the details and they’re not important.)

Also, Zhaixing wants to learn to fight and Wolfie flirts while helping her learn to use a bow. She clearly likes him but he’s only sporadically nice to her and arrogant the rest of the time (and is still lying to her about both his identity and the deaths of the Ma family).

And this is the point, 22 minutes into episode 11, that Ji Chong first appears. The only other thing you really need to know is that the old man who talks to him after he gets his bounty is the prime minister and the guy inside the cart is the second prince.

If you have any questions, I’m available here or on Twitter to at least attempt to answer them. (Twitter is better because I’m bad at Tumblr.)

[sombredancer]

Enemies/Rivals to Lovers recipe

(with the mild version aka Pride and Prejudice and the tragic version aka Romeo and Juliet) Step 1: The main heroes are on the opposite sides of any scale (the grumpy one vs a cheerful one, a kind and stupid one vs a cunning and vile one, a demon vs a god, a master vs a servant, people of enemy states or absolutely different cultures etc.).

A cheerful and funny little bird demon-yao Qing Qing and a grumpy and stone-faced deity of Netherworld Xue Qianxun Step 2: They are forced to communicate with each other without a chance to avoid it (e.g. an arranged marriage, being trapped somewhere together, working as a mole in the enemy camp etc.).

Asura King Xuan Ye plays out damsel in distress to get undercover into Heavenly Realm and his future lover Ran Qing is the one who "rescues" him.

Step 3: One party get impressed by unique character features of other (e.g. the person is the only one who isn't terrified by other's scary reputation, the only one who treats other party well etc.).

Even kings and princes are in absolute terror seeing Gwi - an immortal all-powerful vampire, and only Hye Ryung hates him so much that dares to bicker, scold and deny him. Step 4: One of the parties takes the first step towards another and that melts another`s heart.

Even if Hou Ling Changjin hurt Princess Bao Zhu for her miraculous blood, she still cares for him and doesn`t hold a grudge.

"You are injured!"

Step 5: Here come mutual pining, UST and moral sufferings "what is more important: to fulfil the mission / to be accepted by the society / whatsoever or to love?"

Gong Shangjue doubts if he can indulge himself being gentle with the girl he likes if she is an assassin from the enemy clan.

Shangguan Qian adds Shangjue`s favorite flowers into her tea and thinks about her mission of taking him down.

Step 6: It`s time to confess the feelings.

Leader of a diabolic sect Li Chenlan comes to save his beloved who hated him and tried to kill him and promises her to be her sword and shield. So romantic!

Step 7: The parties try to solve the problem that keeps them apart. If the problem is internal (it has something to do with beliefs and prejudice of a person), here it will be solved and «happily ever after» begins.

Despite of his low social status Hao Du ventures to participate in the competition, wins the right to marry the princess (who he is in love with) and dares to be honest explaining that he did it not only in order to save her from a Barbarian prince but because he truly wants to be with her. Step 8: If the problem is external (there is a large-scale conflict and the parties are just some insignificant participants of it), one of the parties sacrifices themselves to solve the problem.

Before saving the world by the cost of his life Demon God Tantai Jin engraves his name on his own tombstone placed next to his beloved wife's one, so in the future she could mourn him in a suitable place.

Step 9: In a satisfying story there is a magical reward of party's brave deed, which is a happy end.

Demon Lord Dongfang Qingcang sacrificed himself in order to save the girl he loved and died but his girlfriend (who happens to be a Goddess with abilities to resurrect the dead) nurtured a piece of his primordial spirit for 500 years and brought him back to life. Side note: If you want to add some chili pepper into your story, you can break this scheme any step from Step 4 on: pining could be one-sided, UST could never ever be resolved, characters could prefer their goals to love or maybe death or other circumstances would do them apart against their will.

The Wolf and Ma Zhaixing finally got together but the cruel world couldn`t allow it to last anytime long.

Bon Appétit! Your Enemies to Lovers story is well-baked!

Also you can see: Asian dramas and Love tropes Asian dramas and my favorite types of characters Asian dramas and relationship dynamics (Pt. 1) Asian dramas and relationship dynamics (Pt. 2)