#li Xiangyi

[eirenical]

The Spin Maneuver

Mysterious Lotus Casebook | Lian Hua Lou | 莲花楼 | Episode 33 & 34

(I've had this meta percolating in the back of my mind since my second or third rewatch... so it's been a while. XD)

This show doesn't do anything by accident, so I have to believe that putting these two scenes so closely together serves a purpose. In both cases, Li Lianhua comes flying through the air, gets whipped around a person who is acting as a center pole, and then lands, more or less, stably on his feet. That's a very obvious visual parallel. But if you look a bit more closely, these two moments couldn't be more different.

1) Who is controlling the beginning of the spin?

In the first spin, Shan Gudao grabs Li Lianhua's wrist as he's coming out of his Whirling Steps. In the second, it's Li Lianhua who reaches for Fang Duobing, but the moment Fang Duobing sees him, he reaches right back.

vs.

2) In that first spin, Li Lianhua is jerked right off balance; his entire body goes through a whiplash motion as he's pulled into the air, and when he lands, he's at a sharp diagonal, barely able to keep his feet. With Fang Duobing, he goes into that spin at a MUCH sharper angle; he's practically horizontal, but SO IS FANG DUOBING. And yet somehow they both manage to stabilize each other so LLH can deliver that powerhouse kick to the Demon Monk and STILL land lightly on his feet with both of them well balanced enough to attack again if need be.

vs

And you can see in that second shot of Fang Duobing and Li Lianhua that Xiaobao is contorting his body SO HARD to make sure that Li Lianhua is stable enough to deliver that kick (you can see this better in the gif, but oh well XD). He doesn't let go until the kick is over and Li Lianhua has both feet on the ground.

So why put these two scenes with such a distinctive move so close together?

(This is getting long, so behind a cut we go...)

So first, these two so-similar-yet-so-different moves show exactly how different Shan Gudao and Fang Duobing are. This is a show that goes out of its way so many times to show that while blood relation may be important, it doesn't necessarily make you who you are. And that family you make for yourself is at least equally important.

And here we have two people, blood relations, in fact, who have both been so important to Li Lianhua in the course of his life. And one uses this move to attack, to knock off balance, to throw Li Lianhua away from him. The other uses this move like centrifugal force: to pull Li Lianhua closer, to balance them both, to stabilize him when he's flying in faster than he can easily control himself.

And that's so deeply encapsulating of Li Lianhua's relationships with both of them.

Xiaobao grounds Li Lianhua. It takes him a long time to grow into that role, but once he gets there, he's going to hold on with all his might. And I love this as a representation of that. It's Xiaobao saying: "My father didn't have your best interests at heart and he never did. I do, and I always will. Take that leap and I'll catch you every time."

But why on Earth did Li Lianhua choose to do this move with Fang Duobing in the first place? Especially after what just happened with Shan Gudao maybe ten minutes earlier? We've never seen Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing train together. Hell, until maybe 30 minutes before this, Fang Duobing didn't even know Li Lianhua knew any martial arts! So this is not a move they could have trained or developed together. Fang Duobing, on sheer instinct alone, saw what Li Lianhua was trying to do, adjusted his own stance out of FALLING BACKWARDS AT A SHARP ANGLE into being a counterbalance weight that could stabilize them both and maintain the momentum that Li Lianhua needed to deliver that kick. First of all, that was some RIDICULOUSLY FAST mental calculations on Fang Duobing's part. O_O (All that STEM training paying off, I guess? XD) Second of all, even if figured it out that fast, he still had to physically execute the maneuver! So, like... good on you Xiaobao. Hot damn. 😁

So they had no time or reason to train this move, so why on EARTH would Li Lianhua attempt it?

(And this is where I slide off the meta train and into headcanon a bit. Please indulge me. XD)

I wonder if this was a move that Li Lianhua used to perform with Shan Gudao the way he did with Fang Duobing. With Shan Gudao being so much larger than him, especially in the beginning, he'd have been easy to toss around. And with his whirling steps, a move like this would be a natural extension of the rest of his fancy footwork.

So maybe, like telling Li Lianhua about their shifu's death, using this move against him was yet another way to destroy a piece of the life they had together. To rip the rug right out from under Li Lianhua's feet. And MAYBE Li Lianhua using it so shortly thereafter with Shan Gudao's son, knowing Shan Gudao would have known that they'd never trained that move... would have been a way to take that piece back. Like saying: "You see this thing that was ours? You can't take it away from me because I've already given it to someone else. To your SON."

And I just love the thought of that. ^_^

[carduelis-art]

[qpjianghu]

Who’s the real you? The person who did something awful... or the one who’s horrified by the awful thing you did? Is one part of you allowed to forgive the other? [insp]

Li Xiangyi & Li Lianhua | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

For @mysteriouslotuscasebookweek prompt, Day 4: grief

[obsessivetwat]

I think it's my first ever Tumblr post in like all 13 years of my being here 😆 since those two buggers are living in my head rent free these days, I'll just dump them here because I fucking can't anymore

[mutantfactor]

Mysterious Lotus Casebook | pov: there are only 2 beds

[shenzhiheng]

Fanghua + Calling for A-Fei (and the one time it wasn't needed)

[evilfarmin]

Just closed the case. book. 🪷

[howdaretrashships]

You used to be quite arrogant and very talented. You made a lot of friends, but few of them were true friends... Later something big happened and you ended up all alone.

[palehorsemen]

[la-muerta]

Do you ever think about how when Li Xiangyi finally returns to Sigu Sect/Baichuan Yuan and sees his old so-called friends after ten years, he tries to test them out by introducing himself as "Li..." and his face falls when he sees only apprehension, suspicion, and disbelief on their faces.

And his so-called arch nemesis looks more disappointed/upset on his behalf that none of his friends seemed excited or happy about the possibility that Li Xiangyi has returned.

[wangquan-fugui]

[solariene]

Li Lianhua & Di Feisheng | Sacrifice

[carduelis-art]

Commission for @the-wintry-mizzenmast

[qpjianghu]

 “It’s not that you don’t forgive others... it’s that you refuse to forgive yourself.”

Li Xiangyi / Li Lianhua - Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Ep. 40

[jianghushenanigans]

jianghu bicycle Li Lianhua