#meng xishi i love you for every fucking unhinged thing in this novel

[botanycrewmember]

About Shen Qiao's Final Confrontation with Chen Gong (heavy spoilers)

I'm often haunted by Shen Qiao and Chen Gong's last meeting. The way the narrative sets them up as foils for each other makes it even more gut-wrenching to see that there would never be reconciliation for them: both of them are people who have been subjected to the lowest form of humanity, both are talented martial artists with a thirst for learning, and yet one of them claws his way up by refusing to play by society's cruel rules, while the other survives by excelling at them.

That said, no matter what you think about Chen Gong and his fate in Qian Qiu, I think it's worth noting that the very last time he sees Shen Qiao, the latter is in full drag and sporting a makeup that would probably look like this given the time period:

The style of makeup is called 額黃 (literally: forehead yellow), which was popularized in the Southern-Northern Dynasty period (where Qian Qiu takes place). Women in that time were inspired by the gold-foiled Buddhist statues and painted their forehead (sometimes also nose) yellow-gold to imitate the statues' appearances.

Can you imagine: you're 23 and the life you carved out through blood and sweat is once again crumbling around you and you want Out, and the man who's been giving you existential crises for years shows up in a dress that suits him and a face so caked in makeup you can barely see his original skin color. He tells you that you've done fucked up; his makeup is running a little from all the running and fighting.

I would have died choking on blood from laughing at the absurdity of the situation, no stabbing from an entitled brat needed. RIP Chen Gong you are a stronger soul than 99% of the people in this novel just for not commenting on anything at all.