#mbj doesn’t even seem that social

[thescumvillainiest]

Shang Qinghua’s Social Life As Seen From the Airplane Extras

To answer the question of how social is Airplane anyway, I reread the Airplane extras for the first time in a while, using the official English translation.

Pre-transmigration: He was a shut-in with no friends, at least in real life (page 218). His being a shut-in was both caused by and contributed to how much he was writing (10k a day, 25k a weekend, and sometimes releasing eight chapter bursts).

Post-transmigration: He only describes two people as having a friendship with him that I noticed, Mobei-Jun and Shen Qingqiu.

In Mobei-Jun’s case, he was who Shang Qinghua used as an example for being his friend. This revelation also scared him (page 218).

For Shen Qingqiu, he feels that “…the most reliable thing in this world was indeed the friendship of Peerless Cucumber, his comrade from the same hometown” (page 246) when he finally allows Airplane to have some noodles. There was also a detail that I found interesting from Shang Qinghua’s fight with Linguang-Jun, which is that Shen Qingqiu made the Black Sun fire for Shang Qinghua when he asked him to (page 230).

Other than this, he doesn’t seem to have any other friends. Additionally, as he doesn’t consider Mobei-Jun a friend until post-canon and at the start of volume three, Shang Qinghua said to Shen Qingqiu, “Since when did we have a friendship!” (page 17), which is the only other time I remember off the top of my head Airplane mentioning his thoughts on his relationship with Shen Qingqiu. There’s a very real possibility that Shang Qinghua didn’t consider anyone to be his friend until after the events of Scum Villain.

In conclusion, Shang Qinghua does not seem to be very sociable and this leaves the possibility of Mobei-Jun being the more social of the two somehow.

[shinebrightlikeanarwhal]

Brain going brrr for Shen Jiu food today sosisosl

So hear me out, modern au. Shen Jiu doesn’t remember anything of their past live(s) and is a relatively famous internet chef. Like he has a PO Box and everything for his fans to send gifts or letters for him to personally read and tell them either what to do or that he’s proud, he never shows his face though, a deathly fear of being found, but by who? His young son, Ming Fan, is all but excited to be Shen Jiu’s direct bloodline in this life. Shen Qingqiu was always his father figure in the first life, but the second he got hurt or something and started caring for that nasty LBH.

Sometimes, Shen Jiu feels unsafe when out on the street and going about his day to day life. He doesn’t know why but certain faces of public figures terrify him. A little lady on the street selling hand made jewelry and staring at him like she’s seen a ghost makes him physically sick. God, he despises the face of this rather famous actor, Luo Bing-something?? He hates this confusing feeling that seemed to come of nowhere. That doesn’t stop them from trying to approach once they see him.

Women in fancy clothes and strong perfume dote on him and he practically melts in their arms. Confused on how they know his name but more than happy to chat about life. They seem happy for him, ecstatic even! Men in suits ranging from serious CEO to flashy idols would stop their cars and holler at him for his time of day. He despises men like that and gives them no acknowledgement while he continues on his way. If he’s lucky they have a tight schedule, if not they follow him to the grocery store and corner him in the frozen section while he picks out treats for his son. Two men have tried that and were met with a smack by popsicles. Social media was set a blaz when videos of this Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge cornered the same man on different days and tried harassing him. Of course their stans refused to believe it was their fault. It MUST be the pretty man minding his business throughout the proof on the grocery camera. The companies dared to contact him afterwards and SJ happily sent back his lawyers information and video proof of their ‘important persons’ harassment and stalking.

One was bold enough to publicly announce that they were looking for him at a political event. Broadcasted nationwide. Shen Jiu felt nothing but disdain for that Yue man. Who says “I’m looking for a man I haven’t seen since I was young and dumb.” During a political conference?? Just because you know it’s being broadcasted!? His fans during a livestream asked what he thought about it and he angrily said that Yue man was a fool! An absolute clown for thinking that wishing some guy that doesn’t even know him will come looking for him just because he said his name!

He never had a bad experience with women until one scowled at him and he instinctively scowled back. He had his son with him that day and was trying to not be hounded. But this woman continued to follow him and berate his clothing, his hair. He could handle scrutiny of himself but the moment she said anything about Ming Fan, be it his appearance or his mother, he drew the line. Wiping around to face this despicable woman and spitting the iciest response he could without scaring Ming Fan. He remembered seeing her on a magazine before. Some model or washed up actress. God help her when he posts the body cam footage his partner made him wear after the second Grocery store incident. She scoffed at him and just continued to point and jeer at him. Wondering if the others were only following him for his pretty face. Others?? The men that harassed him and the girls that scurried with their tail between their legs?? Shen Jiu is starting to think it’s time to move. He desperately wants to mind his business and live his life but they seem adamant on harassing him.

So he does! He announces it on a video after the fact so that they can’t find him even if they try to. Perks of dating a rich ceo, anonymity is quite easy with money!

Shen Jiu happily married his now hubby and they have many more kids with Ming Fan adoring them all. He refuses to be nice to this one lady at his school that tries to be friendly with him and will run crying to SJ, who remembers her as the jewelry stand girl, and he immediately has his son in a different class. Life going well for the man who was claimed to be evil in past lives, meanwhile the others are crumbling day by day now that he’s missing and they can’t seem to find him, no matter what. (NYY may have stalked him to the remote village but she wouldn’t tell the others. She can’t risk making Shizun hate her more). The ones that harassed her were publicly pitted by their companies and forced to apologize to him specifically. When word got out that Shen Jiu vanished it did NOT look good for them.. LBH had the wrath of his mother and LQG had a mother and grandmother to fear. QQQ was fired and black listed from the media. She would have just apologized if she had insulted the man himself, but following and insulting the child too? The media scorned her already shitty gossip personality. Any time she tried to get on tv they would turn on his and snicker about her cancellation. YQY lived lavishly, but lonely. He had a political marriage and no children. He refused to touch his wife. No matter what she would say all he could do is smile and apologize. Work wise things were going well. Since they didn’t have a punching bag to push everything on and the other politicians seemed to work smoothly despite disagreements, he had no real need to focus on work 24/7. But he did. He was always in his office scouring the internet for Xiao Jiu.

SY and SQH weren’t mentioned because they literally wouldn’t do anything different from usual. They wouldn’t even meet their past life husbands (LBH would think SY is a fan and just give his usual charm and leave. He’s already found SJ, this man is just a fake clearly). SQH wouldn’t have the chance to get MBJ, the neet writer would see him once and fumble his words. Probably earning a scoff as MBJ walked off to go meet his peer/partner. The two millennials would probably bond online over a story and get close. Maybe a failed relationship but remained friends.

TLDR; Everyone reincarnated and their lives fall apart if they don’t change their attitude towards SJ. SJ doesn’t remember them and just wants to raise his baby MF in peace. Jobs are lost and public relations are plummeting because these fools couldn’t find healthier ways to reconnect with SJ.

[tossawary]

I know you tend to take a cautious approach to polyamory, since it can take a lot of work to write, but the recent shangqijiu post has got me thinking of some universe where it's Shang Qinghua who ends up with the harem (with Mobei-Jun as his main husband, of course), and just this very confused hamster wondering why they're all so keen on him, go chase LBH? Doubly funny because everyone IN the harem would probably have to organize said harem themselves because of SQH's confusion.

Lol, that’s funny. I probably wouldn’t write it personally because I prefer Shang Qinghua’s character being... I don’t want to say unappealing, but people generally aren’t keen on him, especially because he doesn’t open up to most people (the closest he comes to this is Cucumber Bro before the latter half of the Airplane Extras) or go out of his way to win anyone over (with the exception of MBJ). He’s no Liu Supermodel or anything, he’s just a guy. 

The vibe I get from SVSSS Shang Qinghua is also that he’s kind of purposefully putting people off most of the time because he’s not here to make friends or get attached. That’s why it’s so funny when he does get close to someone, in my opinion, because he seems to grow on them like mold, on accident and against his will, and everyone else is like, “...Why that guy?” 

And no one (MBJ or SY) can adequately explain the appeal of Shang “l refuse to be known” Qinghua. He’s got layers. Like an onion. 

Shang Qinghua seems to be like, “I have one person in my heart and it’s me.” And someone could be like, “What’s up with you and Mobei-Jun, though?” And Shang Qinghua would be like, “That’s none of your business.” And Shang Qinghua’s response to the idea that he’s let Shen Yuan into his heart at all would probably be, “Bro, if I let him in there, he’d stab me.” While Shang Qinghua is also desperately trying to close the “SHANG QINGHUA WILL NOW DIE FOR MBJ / SQQ” pop-ups that he claims not to remember signing up for. 

I’m kind of picky with MDZS JGY characterizations because even if he’s not being the bad guy, I still imagine him constantly sorting people into the categories of “people I resent for looking down on me” and “people I look down on for trusting me” (possibly divided by a line that says “Lan Xichen”). (Kind of like Roselyn Keo as presented in this article, you know?) Shang Qinghua doesn’t have this worldview exactly, but he’s... predisposed to finding everyone around him kind of disposable, and (unlike Luo Binghe) he’s not hot enough or powerful enough or charming / socially adept enough for people to find that forgivable, which makes imagining him as a harem protagonist more cracky than I’m personally into. (Especially when he’s so hung up on MBJ.)  

I could see it as a “love potion” accident that SQH has to solve fic. 

That being said, I do enjoy humor concepts where Shang Qinghua is accidentally kind of appealing by some demon standards. 

Like, they think he’s kind of weird-looking, but an interesting weird-looking, and he’s unpredictably way too nice and coldly uncaring, and also the fact that he apparently brings power and resources whenever he goes is very appealing. Demons come to meet with MBJ like, “Why would he marry this human wretch?” And then they walk away deeply confused and kind of envious like, “I would also perhaps marry the human wretch.” 

[shijiujun]

“you know you’re singing to your headphones out loud, right” au for moshang plz sqh singing modern songs that mbj doesn't know and being hella confused 🥺

Featuring karaoke-loving Shang Qinghua who gets a bit too drunk at a Cang Qiong mountain gathering, and he goes all out. 

Or when Mobei Jun wonders why Shang Qinghua is singing about another man called Liang Shan Bo.

---

Sometimes, he thinks about his old life before he ever had the misfortune of landing in a world of his own creation, with an annoying gaming AI system of sorts hounding his every move (in the beginning) or turning up at the most inopportune times just when he thinks it’s finally gone and left him alone (more recently). 

Shang Qinghua remembers not having many friends when he was still Shang Qinghua, when ‘向天打飞机 Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’ was still merely his writing Weibo account moniker and when he had millions of people looking up to him for his crucial contributions in writing this amazing story about his son Luo Binghe and the way he overcame all odds to become a success with a harem of gorgeous women at his feet (damn you, Peerless Cucumber bro!).

Back in those days, he lived off cup noodles and instant coffee. If he didn’t have to leave the house, Shang Qinghua would simply curl up in front of his laptop, either writing for his novel or watching shows (clears his throat) - actual shows! Chinese period dramas were his favourite, where a skilled and intelligent consort in the harem would outwit all the other women to be with her one true love, the Emperor, who falls irrevocably in love with her.

And when he got bored, he switched from the laptop to his television to engage in his second most favourite hobby - Chinese karaoke. Going out to a karaoke bar would require some level of socializing, and also a few friends so he gets more bang out of his buck from what he pays for the room, but at home? 

With advanced technology and a tiny ass microphone in either shining gold or silver, Shang Qinghua’s home entertainment system was his very own personal karaoke room, His tiny mic even had that echo-y effect on.

Shang Qinghua has a thing for classic Chinese songs - ‘The New Butterfly Dream’, ‘Liang Shan Bo and Juliet’, The Moon Represents My Heart‘ - and contemporary karaoke must-haves, like Wang Fei. For an embarrassing few days, the Chinese version of Baby Shark was a veritable earworm as well.

After transmigrating into his own story set in ancient times, where he lives without technology, Shang Qinghua would be lying if he said he didn’t miss the Internet. Laptops would be incredibly handy, and so would switches for lights, definitely indoor plumbing for toilets, and induction stoves. Phones too, that would be nice, rather than having to ‘send word’ with letters. 

Of course, there is no karaoke bar or machine for him.

Not all is bad though. At least he transmigrated to Shang Qinghua in this world as a baby, so it’s not as if he was surviving on Internet and technology one day and left to do everything manually the next day since someone was always taking care of him. Peerless Cucumber bro, of course, wasn’t as lucky, but the man has definitely taken to this world (and his son!!) like a fish to water.

And as for himself, Shang Qinghua does not need to envy Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe either, because somehow, he has gotten the man of his dreams too, even if said man was a little cruel and rude to him in the beginning.

He has the love of his life (coughs coughs) and they’re stuck in this world for the rest of his life. What more is there to want? Not to mention how his cup of instant noodles betrayed him at the last moment, resulting in his death! It is slightly safer, ironically, to be in this world instead.

All is good except... well...

===

Shen Qingqiu marvels at the sight before him, torn between wanting to step in to stop Shang Qinghua, or watch this farce unfold. 

He sometimes forgets where he, or where Shang Qinghua, who has been in this world longer than he, came from. They don’t always talk about the past when they meet, and aside from the occasional meetups, Shen Yuan is a part of him that doesn’t surface, not when he is with Luo Binghe. 

Shang Qinghua, on the other hand, grew up here, and aside from referring to Shen Qingqiu by his Weibo account name, he seems otherwise well-adjusted, no hint of modern online writer Shang Qinghua in sight. It doesn’t feel as if he misses their original world either.

This evening, however, memories of modern times slap him in the face, quite literally.

“Shizun!” Luo Binghe calls, frantic, tugging him back into his embrace out of Shang Qinghua’s way. Once Shen Qingqiu is safe in his arms, his eyes narrow at the bumbling, drunk idiot causing a scene in the dinner hall, “Shang Qinghua...”

Shang Qinghua stops where he is, and then before any one can stop him, he picks up a pair of chopsticks, brings it to his mouth, and begins bellowing his way through-

-Jay Chou’s Hair Like Snow.

“Shizun, are you alright?” Luo Binghe fusses, his hands coming up to cup Shen Qingqiu’s face when his Shizun doesn’t so much as respond to him. “Were you hurt? Did he hurt you? How’re you feeling? We’ll go back home now-”

“What is he singing?” Qi Qingqi frowns in disgust.

They all wince when Shang Qinghua attempts to hit a high note, but fails miserably.

Fuck me, Shen Qingqiu thinks, his eyes impossibly wide, who knew Airplane bro was such a karaoke fanatic?

“... maybe he is possessed by a malevolent spirit? Or perhaps this is an unidentified curse?” asks Ming Fan. 

“Or is this some new form of cultivation?” asks Ning Yingying, curious.

Yue Qingyuan, seated at the front of the dining hall, cannot help but be concerned for him as well. “Shall we call Mu-shidi to take a look at him-”

They’ve gathered for their annual meeting - a condition that Yue Qingyuan has set in place a few years ago after Luo Binghe ‘stole’ (married!) him away from Cang Qiong Peak - and although Shang Qinghua said he didn’t mind that Mobei Jun was unable to accompany him today, he spent most of the dinner drinking alcohol while in a melancholic state instead.

Who knew that Shang Qinghua was a singing drunk?!

Hence their current predicament.

At the Sect Master’s words, Shang Qinghua suddenly turns around and looks at Shen Qingqiu. HIccuping twice, he then beams, “Cucumber-”

Shen Qingqiu has never moved that fast in his life. Within a fraction of a second, he has his hand pressed over Shang Qinghua’s mouth, holding onto him from the back.

“Cucumber?” everyone choruses in confusion.

“I believe your Shang-shishu has had a little too much to drink,” Shen Qingqiu clears his throat, nodding at everyone else. “We should... send him back to Mobei. Isn’t that right, Binghe?”

His disciple, his husband, still has on an affronted, murderous look for how Shang Qinghua almost brained Shen Qingqiu with his flailing arms in his drunken fit. The moment Shen Qingqiu asks, however, his expression morphs into something so soft and full of love that everyone who sees it chokes.

“Of course,” Luo Binghe smiles, devotion apparent in his eyes. “Anything Shizun wants.”

===

The words that are tumbling out of Shang Qinghua’s mouth are entirely incomprehensible, and so are the tunes he’s humming into his ear.

Mobei Jun thought he had gotten used to Shang Qinghua’s eccentric mannerisms, and also thought he knew everything about his husband, so many years later. Shang Qinghua is mumbling Chinese alright, but none of the characters put together make any sense.

Who is Liang Shan Bo? And who the hell is Juliet?!

His mood taking a turn for the worse, Mobei Jun hoists Shang Qinghua up further on his back.

After getting so drunk, the idiot had the gall to demand for a piggy-back from the throne room to their bedroom. Mobei Jun has never once suffered such indignity in his years of living. A bridal carry? Of course, anytime. A piggy-back? As if he was some beast to be tamed? 

Well this definitely has to be a first.

While he was stewing in his thoughts, Shang Qinghua switches from that song to another one, and a stream of ‘du du du lu du lu’ emerges from his lips... AND something about... a sha yu? What the hell is that?!

Shang Qinghua lazily lifts his right hand as they approach their room, balls it into a fist and puts it to his mouth, as if he’s holding something, and whatever monstrosity Shang Qinghua is singing, his voice gets even louder.

Mobei Jun tosses Shang Qinghua off his back unceremoniously and onto the soft bed. Interrupted, Shang Qinghua blinks, his vision blurry, and is about to catch his breath and start singing again when his husband climbs in after him. Trapping Shang Qinghua with his entire weight, Mobei Jun seals his lips with a kiss.

“... My king...” Shang Qinghua murmurs in a daze, when Mobei Jun pulls back a few minutes later, his breaths coming out as short, harsh pants. “My king...”

“That’s right,” he says with a glower. “I’m your Da Wang, your husband.”

Mobei Jun doesn’t know who Liang Shan Bo is, but he’s going to make sure no other man’s name ever leaves Shang Qinghua’s lips again when they’re together.

And when his husband finally sobers up, he’s going to have a lot to answer for.

---

Songs Mentioned (YouTube Links in Comments):

The New Butterfly Dream 新鸳鸯蝴蝶梦 － A Chinese classic, sung by Huang An but done beautifully by legendary god of singing Fei Yu Qing and singing partner for the song A Yun Ga

Liang Shan Bo and Juliet 梁山伯与朱丽叶 － A Taiwanese contemporary classic of sorts by Genie Zhuo, most Chinese millennials would definitely have sang this at a karaoke once in their lives - Song is inspired by Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai, the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet to some extent - They both die in the end and become butterflies, so they’re also called the Butterfly Lovers.

The Moon Represents My Heart 月亮代表我的心 － ANOTHER CLASSIC CLASSIC!!!

Baby Shark (Chi. Ver) － ˆThe baby shark hype did move to China, and it’s pretty hilarious LMAO and in Chinese, shark is 鲨鱼 (sha yu) but I’m assuming that in this world, there isn’t a shark kind of animal of sorts? So Mobei Jun and everyone else except SQQ wouldn’t know what a shark is or looks like?!

Hair Like Snow 发如雪 － By Jay Chou, another classic that all Chinese millennials would have sang in a karaoke bar 

Wang Fei 王妃 － Jam Hsiao’s version is known best, and it’s pretty epic, not that anyone can reach any of the high notes in the chorus, but does that stop us from trying?!! Hell no!!!

---

Notes: My first Moshang?!! That didn’t really have a lot of Moshang time?! But thanks anon, hope this sort of works?!

[unpopularpeers-blog]

UNPOPULAR OPINION

No one asked but I don’t like Michael B Jordan.

People seem to think a lot of people just started dragging him this year and only because he “doesn’t date black women” but I’ve been disliking him since 2015, tbh. Don’t be fooled I actually started to like him back when he was in Fruitvale Station but quickly disliked him after his All Lives Matter post and his “I don’t see color” attitude a couple of years later.

My issue with him in reference to black women is him not even considering representing black women. He doesn’t really seem to care for black women in the sense to represent us along with black men. The only time he seems to care about black women is when he wants to advance money or promo wise, because he knows black coins matter. It’s sad because black women supported him way before the mainstream knew anything of him.

If you think black women “just started stanning him this year” you are dumb and you are foolish.

If you think the black women that dislike him only dislike him because he “doesn’t date black women” you are deflecting from the issue and—of course—you are dumb.

He panders to black women. Which, if you need a definition, is what I said earlier: him only giving a damn about black women when it’s convenient and not because “hey, black men and black women deserve the proper representation in movies and shows. We all deserve respect” He will represent a black woman if she’s lighter skinned. ( I know: “WE ARE ALL BLACK AT THE END OF THE DAY. SKINTONE DOESNT MATTER” Yadda yadda)

Now about him not dating black women. Aside from the fact that he’s had a black girlfriend before (as his fans like to protest) and the fact that he claims to like all women. I believe that the mainstream MBJ doesn’t like black women. Because he is popular now, he’s just like many other black men that come up, he now sees black women as lesser than—possibly always felt that they were because back then he probably also felt like he was lesser than so he felt it was right to date them. Any kind of black women promo he seems to do on social media now is his agent a.k.a his team telling him to do it but a lot of us already know he doesn’t like us and know that he’s not being genuine about it.

He claims to like all women yet all the women he’s been rumored or seen with all look alike. Not just that but the women are always linked to being colorist or racist against black women, which says a whole lot about him as well.

Damn near all of his love interests are white or racially ambiguous which many can argue that it’s not his fault or his choice but ...... literally many of his love interests are lightskinned and it doesn’t help that his “lovers” are the same. And when has he bothered to genuinely represent or praise a black woman that was not lightskinned?

Am I saying that he owes black women anything? No , because first of all since when is black women asking black men to represent us, protect us and praise us , an owed favor? I thought it came with the package of being black and misrepresented everywhere. I thought we were black as well and were a part of the group of blacks that deserved to be represented.

Am I saying he’s not allowed to have a preference? No, since he’s stated as of lately that he “likes all women” therefore he doesn’t CLAIM to have a preference. I’m sure he does have a preference he just doesn’t want to admit it publicly AGAIN , despite that his dating history already admits it for him.

If I were to say I date any man of any race, you would see that I do and I don’t exclude my own. You would also see that I still represent my own. There’s black men that date interracially but still love/represent black women and don’t exclude them.

With MBJ his actions don’t add up with his words. He is inconsistent and I don’t get good vibes from him. Even if he stood by his ALL LIVES MATTER BS from before he’d still be inconsistent because black women wouldn’t be apart of that ALL LIVES. And I know his fans and black men will come to this post spewing the same deflecting BS but...I said what I said.

[kugisakiis]

My personal problems with The Sophomore...so far

Like I said last night, I am not entirely upset with James’s new look because A) I get why PB had to do it and why they will probably have to change a lot of faces soon as well; B) I decided to make James my LI because I liked his story and the whole colleagues as lovers trope is hard to resist. 

So his looks to MBJ had something to do with it, but as a whole i liked his story so I was like why not?? Even after the Hollywood thing when I was ready to kick his ass to the curb I was like well I wanna see how this relationship fixes itself and they grow from it. And in my mind they did manage to grow from it with time and their love is stronger because of it.

Now my main gripe has to do with yeah, his face is changed but I notice it so much now because of how so boring his story is. Not just him but all of the LI’s, you can get over the looks because MC’s smile creeps me TF out sometimes but that’s not why I love her. If the arcs were better I feel like people would be upset, but they would be like well his story is still interesting let’s see where it goes? I’m romancing James and I’m so bored with him…and even somewhat with Zig. Now Zig makes my heart flutter, but his story is basically wrapped around his issues with Manny and somewhat on fitting in. I had no idea he was working as a barista again until this last chapter, which is odd if you are dating him?? I mean I remember him alluding to the fact he quit to focus on school and football, now it’s like oh hey you’re working here again. Not to mention how he doesn’t smoke now?? But did in that one scene??? But anyway I’m digressing.

My main issue has to really do with the arcs…ALL OF THEM! Becca, MC, Zig, James, Kaitlyn, Chris, Abbie, Tyler, Zack…the entire crew. AND THE STORY!

I would love to see Becca actually getting a job and trying to calm down her personality from the get-go and patch things up with Maddison. Which I think they will aim to do before the book is over….maybe?? She could have hashed out this Madison stuff earlier and try to deal with her parent’s divorce and the fact she is no longer IT GIRL. I mean she could have pulled a Rachel Green.

Chris needs to learn time management. Period. Point. Blank. He is captain, but his whole student president thing is dropped like he can’t do both?? I mean they had that one scene with him and Arjun arguing and now it’s like it doesn’t exist. He spends 90% of his time being stressed over football and getting Manny and Zig to be besties. It’s not going to happen my friend, play to their strengths as teammates and keep it moving. You are on a college campus, they don’t have to run in the same social circles. And now he is going to be gone the rest of the book?? And let me say this NONE of my MC’s would ever have motivational quotes on the ready. I mean it was meant as a joke but it just seems so cringey because well can’t Chris motivate himself?? He is the captain and the goal of the captain

Kaitlyn…I forget about her the bulk of the time. She is doing things with her band and the MC randomly runs into her like they are in the same apartment building and not HOUSE. She has her band to prove she is better than Natasha and that kinda falls, I mean the newspaper drama was a build up and it fell flat. I’m happy for her development but we don’t see her outside of that. She just had a concert at their house and we don’t see her unless it’s band stuff. When Reyna was sneaking around, you can’t make me believe no one else was awake or didn’t hear it and decide to check it out with MC?

Zack?? What does he do again besides watch HGTV. I mean he pops up a few chapters back for a few lines on going to fix up something and then dips out again.

Abbie and Tyler’s entire appearance hinges on their crazy relationship with Sebastian (who can we stop hating now) and their relationship issues. They are all friends and go to school together but you wouldn’t actually know that outside of random times they pop up and Abbie needs a break from Tyler.

James oh James the entire reason for this post…his story is so blah. I mean I’m not sure if they are writing him out of the story or going to continue with his relationship with MC. Because he pops up with newspaper stuff or the MC helps him with his future. Not saying I want the drama of, oh no I’m failing and can’t graduate?? But more into his school life would be idea or even how he is Vasquez’s legacy holder and not the MC. I would love to see how their relationship progresses since James is a graduate (unless he comes for his Masters??) and they try to balance life as a much more distant couple. Though he could come back to college, you never really know.

And Zig I find him in an awkward position, we see how he doesn’t really fit in and has problems opening up and now with the MC he is able to let his walls down. And I get he wants to help Manny get over his toxic bullshit, but man recognize a lost cause and let it go. Manny is a jerk and takes every moment to be one even if you’re nice to him. I would love to see more of how he balances a job (he has apparently again), football and school more. The newspaper bit got me interested. And as a LI I want more scenes of them just being wholesome, I love the romance scenes but the one where they just cuddled in the last book or he called her was much more satisfying. But again he is going to be gone for the rest of the book more than likely. I enjoy his arc the most and the fact he has been in the later chapters more.

The MC in this book seems to be taking the title of Mom Friend™ to heart in literally everything she does. In the first series, she had a purpose and hobby OUTSIDE of being a nursemaid to her friends 24/7. In the previous books we had “Will the MC be able to stay on campus and not have Vasquez fire her while trying to adjust to college life??” or “How can the MC juggle finishing her novel and new changes surrounding her life??” Now it’s like “Can MC swoop in to solve her friends’ many problems while throwing the perfect party???” The MC legit has NO hobbies outside of assisting her friends and being the Mom Friend™ which is so irritating. I know she had the lack of hobbies before but at least you could count writing as a hobby. 

What makes theses arcs so glaring is the fact everything feels empty. This book has no real direction or narrative making you want to just say “Wow! I can’t wait until the next book to see what happens!!” Even with the newest update on James’s graduation it was like “oh wow…a newspaper assignment and graduation in one. Can’t wait.” It’s literally just a series of random episodes all bound together by the MC basically sticking her head to see what’s going on.

In Book 1, she was doing assignments for Vasquez and her roommate problems just kinda happened naturally and she became involved. Chris was her roommate and was unsure if he was into her or Becca, Kaitlyn was her best friend, roommate/possible love interest who partied way too hard, James was lying to his parents and roped her into being his fake fiancee and they both worked for Vasquez.

In Book 2, it was more or less the same but amplified with her being a good friend and helping Chris with his campaign, trying to keep Vasquez’s secret and hurting James, and trying (and in some cases failing) to be there for Kaitlyn when she came out to her parents.

In Book 3, she was trying to write her book when her friends problems just circled around her—Chris continuing to be student body President and not understanding how to manage his time, James going off to Hollywood and being starstruck and taken advantage of by Yasmin, Kaitlyn working with her band and while trying to branch out over does it. Zig appears and is rough around the edges and has a hard time trusting people, Becca has issues with her family but is slowly trying to be a good person.

Each of those scenarios involved the MC because she was connected to them from the get go. This doesn’t include her ties to helping Zack when he was away from Brandon, helping Tyler and Abbie with their relationship and being supportive. All of the roommates hanging out and spending time together. She was just being a good friend. Even in Book 3 with Becca softening up and Zig showing up, she kinda got roped into that as well. It happened naturally.

Now In the Sophomore…MC literally goes around solving problems with everyone’s arcs and they just feel disjointed. You halfway forget that everyone sans Abbie and Tyler actually live together. 90% of the time you get MC in the house with maybe Chris or Kaitlyn doing their thing or if everyone is together it’s for a party. I don’t know anything about Zack this book outside of him taking up a new hobby in building…Abbie and Tyler are no where to be seen except when they are having relationship issues…Kaitlyn is MIA except for the band and I could go on and on.

The point is that none of it strings together outside of the MC taking it upon herself to be their helper. Maybe in the first series their arcs were this simple, but the love interests arcs seem so weak by comparison due to how lackluster the MC’s life really is. We know nothing of her school life, just parties, the newspaper and the football team. Even her involvement with the newspaper seems to be weak, she sees Reyna every so often and gets assignments from James. We don’t know who else is working on it and if it weren’t for Reyna being listed as a potential love interest, I’m not sure we would know her either. I hope in Book 2 (if there is one) that we get more of a story and something to do and spend diamonds on outside of outfits for parties and romance scenes. I’m 50% sure I’m going to keep playing for the diamonds, but I would at least like to enjoy the story I’m playing yanno. 

[theconservativebrief]

Bad boys are over. Man-children are over. Lovable losers are over. The women of America are too busy being re-traumatized by the discourse of #MeToo over and over again to want to fantasize about doing the enormous emotional labor required to heal troubled men of their wounds and shape them from tortured frogs into perfect Prince Charmings.

No, instead, American pop culture has officially entered into the era of the wholesome bae. Which is to say that this is Noah Centineo’s universe now, and the rest of us are just living in it.

More accurately, it is Peter Kavinsky’s universe. Peter Kavinsky is the character played by Noah Centineo in Netflix’s breakout high school romantic comedy To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. He is the crush object of the summer, and like all great fictional crush objects before him — Jake Ryan, Jordan Catalano — he is known universally by his full name.

In the brief time since To All the Boys premiered, Peter Kavinsky has become iconic for his wholesomeness: his willingness to drive all the way across town to get Lara Jean her yogurt smoothies, his decision to drink kombucha at a house party because he’s driving and also it’s supposed to be good for your digestion, his instinct to keep the popcorn bowl from getting overturned in a middle of an impromptu pillow fight.

Peter Kavinsky is beloved because, unlike his predecessors, he is not actively a bad person, and that is still new and exciting in the world of teen movies. He is not performatively woke or intellectual or tortured or given to especially grand gestures, and that is what makes him appealing: He is most celebrated for reliably doing small things, for showing up, for exuding a sense of honest wholesomeness.

But Peter Kavinsky is fictional, and as such, his ability to spin out endless new content for the internet to sigh over is limited. Noah Centineo, on the other hand, is a real person who can fuel endless new GIFs, one who is taking full advantage of his rise to fame to energetically pursue the mantle of the internet’s most wholesome boyfriend. His media strategy since the premiere of To All the Boys seems to be pointed with military precision toward the archetype of the moment.

Like his most famous character, Centineo is not trying to be especially woke, or especially intellectual, or especially artistic, or especially cool. He’s going for a much more basic appeal, like a Tiger Beat cover star who is not entirely asexual: the emotionally healthy soft jock. The wholesome boyfriend. He is a hot guy who is also reliably nice. That is his whole thing, and it is damn effective.

When To All the Boys came out, Centineo picked up a million Instagram followers overnight. Within a month, he’d gone from 800,000 followers pre-To All the Boys to 9.5 million. Now he’s at 12.8 million. His fan base is so fervent that he had to devote part of an interview with Jimmy Kimmel to politely asking them to stop following him around in real life. “I love your love!” he said. “Just don’t follow me.”

Centineo’s rise to fame is a kind of case study in the appeal of the wholesome internet boyfriend, and why this archetype has taken on a particular urgency here in the draining final months of 2018. Here’s how you become the central crush object of the internet in record time, and where you go next.

The first stage in Centineo’s conquest of the internet’s collective heart was to create a certain slippage between himself and Peter Kavinsky. To All the Boys fans were all reliably swooning over the same three Peter Kavinsky moments — the time he has his hand in Lara Jean’s back pocket and then kind of twirls her around, the whole thing with the popcorn and the pillow fight, the time he bashfully splashes her from the hot tub — and within days of the movie’s release, director Susan Johnson had said in interviews that all three moments were Centineo’s idea. Peter Kavinsky might be fictional, the publicity narrative suggested, but the man behind his best moments was actually alive.

The To All the Boys press team also began to heavily imply that maybe Centineo and his co-star Lana Condor were in love in real life, too. (Lana Condor has been with her boyfriend for years and said so, but that didn’t stop a fun press narrative from building.) The adorable picture of Peter and Lara Jean cuddling that appeared in the movie was actually a behind-the-scenes picture of Centineo and Condor napping between takes, it was revealed. Centineo and Condor referred to each other as “the love of my life” all over social media.

“I love Noah. I think he’s the greatest guy in the world. I mean who wouldn’t?” said the prescient Condor to Elle. “He’s the internet’s boyfriend.”

BuzzFeed’s AM to DM morning show got to the heart of the question: Are people thirsting over Peter Kavinsky or Noah Centineo? “As a genius once said, ‘Why not both?’” responded internet thirst expert Nichole Perkins.

While the line between the Peter Kavinsky character and the Noah Centineo public persona became steadily blurrier, Centineo himself was busy on a press tour, giving interview answers that could have been mathematically calibrated in a lab as the perfect good-girl bait.

Asked to describe his perfect date, Centineo volunteered a story about a time he swapped books with a girl and just spent three hours reading with her.

how is this kid real??? like???? i mean???? i would die???????? someone take me on this date like today?????????????????? pic.twitter.com/jii46EQMPs

— Preeti Chhibber @ NYCC oh god too soon tho (@runwithskizzers) August 29, 2018

Asked how he got so good at flirting by Allison P. Davis for the Cut, he delivered this impromptu monologue on the nature of love:

“Am I flirting?” he laughs and leans and looks down at the floor. “I don’t know — I’m fucking so romantic. Like, such a romantic — it’s not even funny. I can’t help it. I swear to God, like, every day, the majority of my day is sentimental. You know, I’m thinking about past relationships I’ve been in, how I miss them so much or what I would do different, or why I wanna be with them again, or just moments I’d like to go back to or I know why I shouldn’t go back, and then you know, it’s just constantly love, love, love.”

Specific or even all that interesting? Not really. Kind of basic? Extremely. But that, after all, is part of the point: the wholesome boyfriend doesn’t have to rise above basicness. He just has to love love, without cynicism or irony. He’s the hot guy who is also consistently nice, who is aware of his emotions and unashamed of them.

Centineo kept hitting his wholesome boyfriend marks with the relentless force of someone who sees his route to superstardom and will not be stopped. He showed up shirtless to an interview and did it without coming off as a complete douche. He did a puppy interview for BuzzFeed, and a perfect boyfriend video for Elle that also had some puppies because look, why not. He became so relentlessly wholesome that not even a leaked nudes scandal could hold him back.

Currently, Centineo’s gone about as far as Peter Kavinsky can take him, and as with any star on the brink of overexposure, he’s facing a certain amount of backlash. The staff of Jezebel has formally dissolved their relationship with internet boyfriend Centineo — “Whatever we (the staff of Jezebel as a whole) had with Centineo (who has never met any of us, to the best of my knowledge), it’s OVER” — citing in part the extreme basicness of his social media presence (the boy loves an inspirational quote). In a recent New York Times profile, his single-minded push for attention was just on the verge of coming off as desperate rather than endearing.

At Lainey Gossip, Kathleen Newman-Bremang is reading the warning signs. “Internet Boyfriend is a designation you get on the come-up,” she writes, citing the previous examples of Michael B. Jordan and Tom Hiddleston. “You either leverage it in your favour (MBJ) or get so drunk off its power you try too hard and become a caricature of yourself (Hiddleston). Where will Noah Centineo fall?” Being the internet’s flavor of the month is not exactly a recipe for career longevity.

But for the moment, Centineo’s month is not over. He remains on top of the world, at the pinnacle of internet boyfriend-ness. The Cut has proclaimed him “the best thirst architect the internet’s ever seen,” lauding his “Stanislavski dedication” to playing “a simple, suburban-mall kind of crush.” GQ looked into what all the fuss was about and came to a simple conclusion: “America Is Horny for Wholesome.”

One of the side effects of the increasingly public gender struggles of the past few years is that they’ve made a lot of previously attractive romantic archetypes seem a lot less appealing than they used to.

How do you sigh over the Johnny Depp-like wounded bad boy when actual Johnny Depp maybe beat his wife? How do you swoon for the stalwart Mel Gibson-like action hero when actual Mel Gibson is on tape telling the mother of his child she deserves to be raped? How do you root for the sweet shy geek to get the hot girl to notice him when shy geeks are joining the incels because they can’t get hot girls to notice them?

In a time when the world is getting ever scarier, and a little romantic escapism would be a welcome refuge from thinking about whether we’re about to put a second man accused of sexual misconduct on the Supreme Court or we’re going to wake up to find that we are in a nuclear war with North Korea, it’s getting harder and harder to find a romantic fantasy that still feels safe.

That’s part of why To All the Boys, with its relentless tenderness and sincerity, became the kind of movie that people watch over and over again on a loop. (“I never rewatch movies,” people keep telling me, “but I watched it twice.”) Its entire ethos is that of nice, kind people working hard to be nice and kind to each other, and that atmosphere has immense currency in the Trump era; you want to live in it. And that’s the Peter Kavinsky fantasy: a boy who will never, ever do anything cruel and will always tell you that you look really pretty today. The hot guy who is reliably nice.

And that’s the fantasy around which Noah Centineo has relentlessly curated his public image. He has made an exact science out of being the internet’s most wholesome boyfriend, at a time when all people want is someone wholesome. So even if he isn’t able to parlay his current viral fame into career longevity, he’s still managed to be exactly what this moment in time needs.

Original Source -> Noah Centineo and the rise of the wholesome internet boyfriend, explained

via The Conservative Brief

[tossawary]

Chapter 27: “The First Day” of “pride is not the word I’m looking for” quotes and commentary. Not a full list of favorite quotes or full commentary.

-

Right now, deep into the safety of darkness, Shang Qinghua thinks about how he never actually expected to be lying in his bed with Mobei-Jun. No, there’s a reason his sofa is comfortable enough to sleep on! That was by design too! Sure, Shang Qinghua had lots and lots of bed-related fantasies, but he had no expectations of those fantasies ever coming true. He didn’t dare to have expectations.

It’s kind of weird, lying in bed with Mobei-Jun. It’s definitely weird lying in his bed partially on top of Mobei-Jun. With the way things were headed, Shang Qinghua was admittedly fostering some hopes about those bed-related fantasies, but he still didn’t think to mentally prepare himself for the practical details. He really wasn’t mentally prepared for the softness of Mobei-Jun’s hair, for the thickness and the weight of the man’s arms, or for the coolness of his skin against the warmth of the blankets.

Fuck, now there is no way that Shang Qinghua is going to be able to see Mobei-Jun with a plunging neckline without thinking about touching the man’s bare chest. It’s a nice chest! It feels great underneath Shang Qinghua’s hands now.

He can feel a steady heartbeat beneath his fingers.

He can feel the gentle rise and fall of it with the man’s slow breaths, as the man’s eyes have fallen comfortably closed.

Shang Qinghua has never seen Mobei-Jun this relaxed.

-

AN: Moshang in bed together is very good. I loved writing Moshang cuddles. I think it’s really nice when they’re allowed to be soft and relaxed, and everything is understood between them. Mobei-Jun at this point has learned to treat Shang Qinghua like a particularly anxious cat sometimes - if he just stays still and relaxed, eventually Shang Qinghua will calm down and chill with him. 

Shout out to Mobei-Jun and all those years he spent trying to get some hint as to how human social everything worked, only to get nearly no help from Shang Qinghua. In this fic, part of the idea is that Shang Qinghua has been a slightly better communicator. Mobei-Jun can be a good listener when he doesn’t feel hideously embarrassed over his fuck-ups. 

-

“I had made plans to speak with you at some point about… this,” Mobei-Jun agrees. “But that was not why I had come to see you that day.”

“Ah, what… what was it, then?”

Mobei-Jun sighs. “I had come from a gathering of demon lords, hosted by my father at their request. They have loosely agreed to each contribute to an attack on the next conference of human cultivators,” he explains, apparently annoyed at just having to recollect this event. “My uncle encourages my father to force my involvement. He must have trouble planned… or see an opportunity for it.”

Shang Qinghua processes this, then sits bolt upright in bed. “What?!”

Mobei-Jun frowns up at him.

“There’s a demonic alliance to attack the next Immortal Alliance Conference?!” Shang Qinghua demands, leaning over the demon lord beside him.

“Yes.”

“And you waited to tell me this?!”

“There are years left before this event,” Mobei-Jun points out.

Shang Qinghua stares at him.

Sure! But he feels like he should start planning now! He already knew that there was going to be a demon attack of some kind - the seal on Luo Binghe’s powers has to be broken - but demon lords getting involved is bad news! Multiple demon lords who are important enough to be socializing with Mobei-Jun’s father is worse news! Demon lords potentially including Mobei-Jun’s shitty father and shitty uncle is the worst news of all!

“You should warn your people,” Mobei-Jun says, dryly.

- 

AN: Mobei-Jun doesn’t care about the sects, but he cares that Shang Qinghua cares. Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua really are villainous in SVSSS. Shang Qinghua just so happens to sometimes be on the protagonist’s (Shen Yuan’s) side and Shen Yuan has romanced a budding tyrant who has MBJ as a loyal minion. But, oof, I didn’t want to go that route with this fic. 

I mean, I considered it! I considered having Shang Qinghua be forced to bring a demon invasion down on the sect he’s come to care about and his own nephew, but that felt a little too angsty for me. It totally could have been good, I was just like, “I can’t handle that.” Plus, with the world update, it felt fitting to jazz things up a little bit - to up the ante by inviting more demon lords and also have a little role reversal by letting Mobei-Jun be the spy. This way, I think, it really feels like Mobei-Jun is on Shang Qinghua’s side. 

Shang Qinghua isn’t on the demons’ side. Mobei-Jun isn’t really on the humans’ side. But they are on each other’s side. They’re a team! 

Again, what’s more romantic than your demon boyfriend actually doing the work of growth on his own? Moshang can be a little rough and with a lot of sharp edges (on both sides, they’re both kind of mean people) sometimes, so it’s sometimes nice to remember that they can support each other too. 

Also, I’ve always been kind of curious about what Mobei-Jun’s family thinks of his relationship with a human. Mobei-Jun’s father is still alive throughout SVSSS, so it’s fun to think about ice demon politics, power and influence and loyalty in that court, and whether that factored at all into Mobei-Jun’s extremely slow-moving courting timeline of a human. 

-

The person at the door knocks a third time, and Shang Qinghua feels the person beside him stir. He can feel a not insignificant amount of weight shifting, a low and unhappy grumble, and cool skin brushing against his own as that person makes to get up. Possibly to handle the person at the door? Shang Qinghua here abruptly remembers many important details about his current situation that make the sect potentially being on fire seem like a not-so-bad emergency.

 “Demon invasion,” Shang Qinghua finds himself thinking. “Mobei-Jun. Fuck.”

“No, no, no! Don’t get up! I’ll get it!” Shang Qinghua cries, throwing off tangled blankets and flying out of bed. “I’ll handle it, my king! Sorry! Ahhh, sorry! I’ll take care of it, you can just stay where you are-”

Shang Qinghua, now on his feet, pushes firmly down against Mobei-Jun’s chest. He’s not expecting the man - a very, very strong and very, very stubborn demon lord - to go back down under his hand without any resistance at all. This easy obedience, this willingly being pushed down, leads to a surprised Shang Qinghua overbalancing and catching himself hard on Mobei-Jun’s chest and shoulders.

As though Shang Qinghua is actually pinning the man down.

Mobei-Jun stares up at him, eyes low-lidded, and raises his eyebrows.

Ah.

Wow.

Shang Qinghua is going to… well, he’s going to think about this for the rest of his life, probably.

-

AN: Mobei-Jun is so self-conscious in SVSSS that it’s kind of hilarious. So it’s fun to let him be a little more confident (rather than arrogant and lashing out defensively). Mobei-Jun probably thought to himself here, “You know what’ll be funny here? If I just go down now.” I feel it in my heart that Mobei-Jun is a teaser, especially when he’s relaxed and happy. 

- 

Shang Qinghua takes the time to fix up his appearance a little more - to get rid of the “I slept with a demon” smell - because if the asshole at his door has kept it up this long, they can wait a little longer. It turns out that he didn’t really need to bother, because it’s his fellow transmigrator and most dogged critic, Peerless Cucumber.

“Bro,” Shang Qinghua says seriously. “Do you have a deathwish?”

Peerless Cucumber - Shen Yuan, Shang Qinghua has to remember to call the kid by his real name - lowers his hand with a scowl. “...One of your disciples told me to knock on your door and keep knocking until you answered,” the other transmigrator says defensively. “After I said you said to meet you in the morning.”

“...Which one?”

“Wen Shufen, I think?”

“Ah, just for that prank, Sticky Fingers is going to be hauling fertilizer for Long Sheng Peak for a month,” Shang Qinghua says tiredly. “Bro, do not believe half the things your martial siblings here tell you. They’re pretty much all liars, cheats, and thieves.”

“Then why keep them around?”

“Ah, well, sometimes you need someone to lie, cheat, or steal.”

“...It’s nearly not morning anymore, you know.”

“Eh, I guess you get a pass this time, since I did tell you we’d have a nice long talk about things tomorrow morning. Come on in.”

- 

AN: I don’t know if this vibe is coming across, but Shen Yuan feels a little ignored and neglected. They just got back from a mission and Shen Yuan has already been shooed off like twice. Shang Qinghua is so busy. Shang Qinghua is so experienced and so established here. Shen Yuan has latched onto SQH as his lifeline, though he’s trying very, very hard to be independent, and yet Shang Qinghua kind of has SY on the back burner most of the time. 

Not only is Shang Qinghua the author of this world, but he’s also an important figure in this world. Shang Qinghua really lives here and if the plot wasn’t looming over them, SQH would be very happy here. This place feels 100% like Shang Qinghua’s | Airplane’s world and brand new transmigrator Shen Yuan feels like an unwanted intruder. SY is still lonely and scared. 

- 

“...Are you going to try to activate it now?” Shen Yuan asks.

“Hmmm… no, not right now,” Shang Qinghua decides, standing up off the dusty stool he was sitting on. “Cucumber, bro, I’m just not awake enough for tackling anything serious right now. Let me get a few texts and tools together first to test this thing properly, alright? Some safety equipment! Aprons and face shields! Thick, fireproof gloves! I’m still trying to figure out how to safely ask Duan Tianyu what he knows about this map the System apparently made him send me, when he might not even know what the fuck I’m talking about! Maybe he can give us some hints.”

“Who?”

“One of my Huan Hua not-disciples,” Shang Qinghua answers. “I picked up some extras a few deadly missions back. They’re good kids. All grown up now! Less naïve than they used to be! Duan Tianyu is teaching back at Huan Hua Palace now, so maybe I’ll have to be the one to wander over there on some pretense.”

Shen Yuan agrees that getting as much information as possible is probably the better course of action. Shang Qinghua ushers the kid out of his secret basement and his fellow transmigrator goes easily enough. Shang Qinghua complains about his shitty, no-good System on the way up for forcing them to do all the work by themselves.

“It must think everything is more ‘authentic’ if I don’t know what the fuck is going on,” Shang Qinghua suggests, removing his spiritual seal and causing the door to the secret basement to vanish. “Ah, I’ll admit that’s kind of cool to watch.”

-

AN: Throughout this conversation, SY is kind of reaching out, giving himself or Airplane excuses to let him stay. It’s not that he doesn’t want to cultivate, but SQH represents a sort of safety and familiarity SY doesn’t have right now. 

In SVSSS, Airplane was always pretty direct with Shen Yuan, from what I remember, but he wasn’t necessarily open. He was direct about some potentially vulnerable or personal topics, like Luo Binghe’s insanity or his own general fear of his character’s planned death, but that’s not the same as actually being vulnerable. They snap at each other, they’re pretty direct about their personal goals, but they don’t actually get vulnerable with each other by confessing their personal fears and new relationship developments. 

So I’ve tried to adopt that here, while making Shang Qinghua a little kinder and slightly more vulnerable, thanks to the efforts of Luo Jiahui. But Shang Qinghua still isn’t necessarily open here and neither is Shen Yuan. He’s just like, “Hey, it’s shit and I don’t like it either, but what can you do?” He’s not actually seriously talking about his breakdown or just how scared he is of his own plot. 

For some people, there’s a certain kind of openness in confessing things to a stranger, so it’s kind of like that too. Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan have fallen into kind of familiar dynamics, because there’s nothing else to really do, and they are kind of acquaintances, but they’re still not friends yet. 

I think I want to have SY and SQH actually address this soon. SY feels that SQH has been kind of dropping the ball when it comes to honestly helping his fellow transmigrator, though SY, being SY, can’t quite put his finger on the lack of emotional intimacy and affection that he’s starved for right now. 

- 

The day-in-day-out of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect can’t get him down today! He feels kind of like he’s walking on air! Sure, the work never stops and there are some fucking terrifying things ahead, but he just had a very successful mission overall! He just had a really, really successful conversation with Mobei-Jun! He and Mobei-Jun are romantically entwined and Mobei-Jun was very explicit about the fact that he expects them to be romantically entwined… pretty much indefinitely!

“There is no one else,” Mobei-Jun had said. “There will be no one else.”

Shang Qinghua fostered a lot of hopes over the years! More hopes than he felt that he should have reasonably fostered! And to have those hopes unexpectedly fulfilled like this is… really something! It’s really, really something! Mobei-Jun really isn’t the type of character to say that - to say any of the things he said, and wow, he said a lot of things back there - without meaning it completely.

Shang Qinghua doesn’t really know what to do with that.

Forever is a long time.

He understands, of course, that some things really do last an impossibly long time. He used to be pretty certain that all love matches faded eventually - that people were genuinely wildly in love… that people were sincerely in love with each other, sure… up until they inevitably weren’t anymore - but now he can’t really imagine Liu Qingge or Luo Jiahui ever getting tired of each other. Liu Qingge keeps bringing Luo Jiahui new recipes to try and rare ingredients to interest her, so she can make dishes for the two of them or her family as a whole, and Shang Qinghua can easily imagine the two of them doing that pretty much indefinitely.

Shang Qinghua can’t think about this for long, before he has to focus on greeting his disciples (it’s just Peng Hongpeng and Chen Xuan in here at the moment) and getting to work. “Good things last while they last!” he decides for now, because thinking about things not lasting kind of makes him feel like he’s dying.

-

AN: Shang Qinghua can’t quite bring himself to believe in a relationship lasting forever right now. Part of it is his commitment issues, but another part of it is his persisting inability to see past the looming plot. He’s still worried about Luo Binghe and the Eternal Abyss, so he’s having difficulty seeing past that hurdle, even though things like Luo Jiahui’s marriage and his new relationship with Mobei-Jun are forcing him to confront the fact that there’s still a life outside of and beyond the plot. 

For Shang Qinghua, it’s kind of a “I’ll think about that later if we all survive” thing when it comes to him and Mobei-Jun. 

- 

“He made a mistake with good intentions and got a small injury for it,” Shang Qinghua says, as reassuringly as he can. “He’s fine! He’s in trouble with his shizun for it, though, but I’ll see what I can do about bringing you up to meet him or bringing him down here as soon as possible. I’ll do my best to make it happen!”

Luo Jiahui leans into Shang Qinghua’s side and admits, “I miss him.”

“He misses you.”

“I miss you too,” Luo Jiahui adds.

“...Ah, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” his sister-in-law says warmly. “I’d miss you even if you visited every day.”

Shang Qinghua is holding her hands, but it feels like she’s got an extra one wrapped around his heart. “Where’s that husband of yours? Doesn’t he come down the mountain every day? Should I be telling him off? Sorry I ran off with him for a little bit!”

“What does Qingge have to do with you and me?” Luo Jiahui demands. “It doesn’t matter how often I see everyone else, I still miss you and Binghe the most.”

“Hm, that’s a point! That’s a point.”

What else can Shang Qinghua do but admit that he misses her the most too?

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AN: It was fun to follow up Shang Qinghua’s romantic developments with a return to his most important and longest relationship: the one he has with his “fake” sister. Luo Jiahui is and always will be important to Shang Qinghua and who he’s become. They have such a lovely relaxed feeling that’s nice to revisit. I’ve missed Luo Jiahui these past few chapters, as things get twisted up more and more in sect business. 

It would feel dishonest to the rest of the fic if Shang Qinghua’s other relationships disappeared in favor of his new romantic relationship. They all have their own importance. Mobei-Jun and Liu Qingge don’t make Shang Qinghua and Luo Jiahui any less important to each other. 

I am looking forward to making Mobei-Jun and Luo Jiahui meet again, and tackling some of Mobei-Jun’s thoughts on Shang Qinghua’s relationship with his family. Mobei-Jun has a really shitty family, so it’s interesting thinking about what family means to him and how loyalty/love plays into it. 

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While he's busy plotting around the plot, there’s a hum of power behind him, the cool whoosh and crackle of a portal opening, the faint hair-rising warning of demonic energy. Shang Qinghua finishes tapping at his own face in thought, looks up at the looming shadow standing behind him, and smiles. He kind of feels like he should run away, but it's too late for that now. He held on long enough that he made it too late for himself.

“Hello,” he says.

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AN: I took this almost exactly from the first chapter of Part 3 of this fic. I can’t remember the chapter number, but it was the one titled “The Inevitable Plot”. 

Parts 3 and 4 of this fic blend together a little. Part 3 of this fic kind of ends here, but I have a couple more chapters that I want to tackle before I feel that I can say we’re for sure in Part 4? I have some things I want to accomplish before we go into a slight time skip towards the Immortal Alliance Conference. 

[viper-commander]

What I’m getting from this.

SQH = introvert, does not like people

MBJ = extrovert, has the largest friend circle between the two

Shang Qinghua’s Social Life As Seen From the Airplane Extras

To answer the question of how social is Airplane anyway, I reread the Airplane extras for the first time in a while, using the official English translation.

Pre-transmigration: He was a shut-in with no friends, at least in real life (page 218). His being a shut-in was both caused by and contributed to how much he was writing (10k a day, 25k a weekend, and sometimes releasing eight chapter bursts).

Post-transmigration: He only describes two people as having a friendship with him that I noticed, Mobei-Jun and Shen Qingqiu.

In Mobei-Jun’s case, he was who Shang Qinghua used as an example for being his friend. This revelation also scared him (page 218).

For Shen Qingqiu, he feels that “…the most reliable thing in this world was indeed the friendship of Peerless Cucumber, his comrade from the same hometown” (page 246) when he finally allows Airplane to have some noodles. There was also a detail that I found interesting from Shang Qinghua’s fight with Linguang-Jun, which is that Shen Qingqiu made the Black Sun fire for Shang Qinghua when he asked him to (page 230).

Other than this, he doesn’t seem to have any other friends. Additionally, as he doesn’t consider Mobei-Jun a friend until post-canon and at the start of volume three, Shang Qinghua said to Shen Qingqiu, “Since when did we have a friendship!” (page 17), which is the only other time I remember off the top of my head Airplane mentioning his thoughts on his relationship with Shen Qingqiu. There’s a very real possibility that Shang Qinghua didn’t consider anyone to be his friend until after the events of Scum Villain.

In conclusion, Shang Qinghua does not seem to be very sociable and this leaves the possibility of Mobei-Jun being the more social of the two somehow.