#my pretty jie

[chineseredcarpet]

Zhu Xudan for China Fashion

[fruityfroggy]

For those who don’t know, Lilya’s name in the cn version is “Red Crossbow Arrow”

I just wanted yall to know this cuz I’m so not normal about this, I’m really not

[bunni-bun]

lovesoutlet_official:

【清新校花】傅靖雪❤️ 項婕如 @chloeee7 飾演 18歲，氣質嫻靜的天秤座⚖️ 人稱商學院女神，沒有缺點的金融系大一學生。感情世界在左又禾闖進她的生活後似乎起了變化...。 #愛的奧特萊斯 #LINETV #LINE貼文串 #台劇 #愛情 #青春 #浪漫

(16.04.2021 - character intro for Fu Jingxue, played by Chloe Xiang via TLO's Instagram!)

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Holidays! Untamed figure skating please!!

a continuation of 1 2 3

There's silence for long enough that Wei Wuxian would think he'd been hung up on if not for the lack of dial tone. "Hello?"

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says.

He finds himself smiling before he can stop himself, but it's not like there's anyone here to make fun of him. Or yell at him. Jeez, but can Jiang Cheng hold a grudge. "Hi," he says, realizes he's said that already, and clears his throat. "So, I don't know if you've noticed, but one of your pretty little junior Lans is missing."

Lan Zhan gives a deep, pained sigh. Wei Wuxian used to be the only one who could pull that particular sound from him. He's delighted that it's recipients have increased. "Is it Jingyi?"

"It's Jingyi," he says. "A-Ling is protesting being put with Huaisang and showed up at my place instead."

"They do have incompatible temperaments," he says. What a polite way to say they'll end up beating each other to death given enough time in close quarters. "Jingyi accompanied him?"

"Apparently," he says. "I spoke to A-jie already and I'm going to be training A-Ling. Jingyi is welcome to stay as well if you guys are okay with it and send me his choreography."

There's another long moment of silent. Wei Wuxian waits him out. It's been a while, but he has lots of practice. "Jingyi is not your responsibility."

"He's A-Ling's friend," he says carelessly. "I don't mind. He needs to work on his jumps anyway."

"Those were your specialty," Lan Zhan says, voice softening just slightly, just enough that Wei Wuxian doubts more than a handful of people would be able to pick up on it.

"Yeah," he says, unable to keep his voice from softening in return.

They're not fighting. Things ended completely amiably, no matter how angry Jiang Cheng had gotten about the whole thing. They're adults and it's been years, they're just discussing logistics for the kids, that's all.

That's all.

[sarshles-cheescake-li]

Some fun translation facts about Yingdu...

-Xia Fei doesn't necessarily call Vein "warm-hearted." “热心肠" doesn't mean warm-hearted, as in compassionate. It's based on 热心, or passionate. You use it for someone who's helpful, whom you can expect to speak up for people, but not necessarily someone who's "warm." It's more a comment on someone's willingness to get involved in other people's business than their kindness.

-Laoban (老板) is a pretty common way for employees to refer to their bosses. Distinctive from surname-laoban (e.g. Li-laoban), since surnames are usually used if 1. you need to distinguish between several superiors, 2. you're trying to appeal to someone (aka basically talking them up), or 3. you're on somewhat-equal ground with the person, socially, and using it literally because they're the boss of a company. Other terms like -xiansheng (先生)/-nüshi (女士)depending on the person's gender) and -zong (总) may also be used, but laoban (without a surname) is the most "casual" without being informal. Informally, you might use surname-ge (哥)/jie (姐) (common between people of similar ages with an authority/respect gradient, sometimes used casually between friends for an older person), lao (老)-surname (more common the older you get, typically for seniority or generation gaps, but some older folks will use it universally for their friends who are around the same age), dage (大哥)/dajie (大姐) (implies a more familial relationship, but not as explicitly as gege (哥哥) or jiejie(姐姐)). In short: Xia Fei's "laoban," in terms of word choice, is pretty normal socially -- unlike in English where "boss" is kinda a weird term to call someone as their default name. What makes it silly is the fact that he uses it very informally.

-Cheng Xiaoshi calling people 帅哥 (hottie) isn't exactly correct. The shuaige/meinü (美女) (handsome man/beautiful woman) combo is just a pretty common compliment to give someone. It doesn't have to actually imply attraction, and it is often more of a "wow, this person's conventionally attractive" thing. Of course, I'm not saying that that is exactly how Cheng Xiaoshi meant it -- with that tone and context, it could go either way.

-Same logic applies to 美少年 (handsome young man), except it has far more of a teasing/ironic implication, especially when preceded by 美少女 (beautiful young woman). So far as I can tell, 美少年 kind of refers to the same kind of vibe and appearance as… a twink, just without the queer undertones. The bi-coding of that scene would actually require a second layer of linguistic irony that's kind of difficult to explain, although, rest assured, there is still a pretty bi way of reading it.

-Xia Fei's contact name for Liu Xiao means "client who doesn't mind his own business/is nosy/bothers me with a lot of things/is hard to please" or that general vibe. Basically, annoying, but very specifically the high-maintenance flavour of annoying.

-When Vein tells Xia Fei to "脾气收敛点" (or, well, Xia Fei promises to do so) as in to control his temper, the 脾气 he uses doesn't exactly mean temper, in the sense of anger. It's more of how thick your skin is, or how tolerant you are of bs (although it's also dependent on context). In the context of Xia Fei using it, it comes closer to "stop being so impulsive and reacting to people who don't need reacting to." So, more like "control yourself." Notably, 脾气 can also refer to when someone's whining. Like, if my roommate is acting all annoyed at me because I called potatoes ugly (they are extraordinarily ugly), I might say to her “发什么脾气呢" (what are you throwing a fuss about) as a joke.

Another fun fact: some nicknames for the Yingdu trio on Lofter are 鸟木哥, based on 枭, 非文哥, based on 斐 (both of these are deconstructions of their names), and 静脉哥, based the Mandarin term for Vein, as in the blood vessel.

English internet: I'm going to shorten this six-letter long name into two letters so it's easier to type.

Chinese internet: I'm going to lengthen this two-character name into three characters so it's funnier to type.

[only10th]

Thinking about a what if A-Yuan remembers being placed in the hollow tree by Wwx? What if he remembers Wwx and his family?

When A-Yuan woke up and realized he was in CR he expected for his Xian-gege to appear around the corner. It only made sense since rich-gege was there. Even tho it only happened once, A-Yuan noticed how close his Xian-gege stood to the Rich-gege, and how they moved almost in a synchronized manner.

“Rich-gege, where Xian-gege?”

There’s only silence from the Lan cultivator, eyes already watering and tears quickly flowing down his face. The reaction has A-Yuan confused. Why would rich-gege cry? He saved him and Xian-Gege from the scary people, just like Xian-gege said he would.

The child looks around, patiently waiting. He knows Xian-gege loves to play hide and seek, it’s their favorite game after all! Oh, maybe rich-gege felt sad because Xian-gege kept winning! So, A-Yuan moves closer to LWJ, softly patting his cheek and whipping the tears away. “S’okay! Xian-gege is good at playing hide and seek, sometimes he hides really good! I’ll help you find him!”

That only seems to make the man want to curl onto himself, harsh sobs being wrenched from his chest. He was holding on to something, clutching it close to his chest as if it was part of him. A child can be curious, so he tries to see what it is. He gasps when he notices the red fabric. It’s Xian-Gege’s red ribbon!

“You found it!” A-Yuan celebrates, “Xian-Gege lost it. He’ll be so happy that rich-gege found his ribbon!”

“A-Yuan…” LWJ whispers brokenly. Nothing more comes from him, but now the child is a bit concerned as to why Rich-Gege is crying so much. It reminded him of when he’d see Xian-gege crying and he didn’t like when he cried. So he tries to gather himself and give rich-gege a hug, but the man winces loudly when he tries to round his arms over his shoulders.

“Rich-gege…?” A-Yuan asks alarmed, now noticing the red staining his pretty white robes. Xian-Gege always talked about how he liked rich-gege’s robes, how pretty it made him look even though they looked like mourning robes. The stain only seemed to grow bigger, and only then is when the child starts to panic, “Xian-gege? Xian-Gege will help! Xian-gege, stop hiding, rich-gege needs help!”

“Wangji?” Someone unexpectedly comes speed walking into the room. More people with white robes come into the room, all their faces with alarm and worry. By instinct, A-Yuan stands in front of LWJ. Xian-Gege told him that Rich-Gege was the only good person he knew from the sect that wore white robes, they couldn’t be trusted.

“S-Stay away!” A-Yuan warns, his small body blocking the larger man behind him. “Don’t h-hurt rich-gege, o-or Xian-gege will be mad!”

The healers and LXC can only look at the child, perplexed at how he protected LWJ. Even more so at the term of endearment used to describe their HGJ and the late YLLZ.

LXC tries to step closer, but that only makes the child puff his chest and stretch his arms wider, just like Ning-ge had taught him. “Young one, we are here to take care of Wangji. We won’t bring any harm to him.”

A-Yuan stares at the man that looks similar to LWJ, but he can’t help but be cautious of him. The child shakes his head, “Xian-gege said not to trust anyone that’s not Rich-gege. Xian-Gege and A-Yuan help rich-gege.”

There’s clear conflict in LXC eyes as he looks at the boy and then at his brother. Has Wangji not told him the news yet? But his priority was to take care of Wangji’s wounds, and he could easily just go around the child, but that would only cause trouble. So he nods in understanding, kneeling until he is at eye level with the boy.

“You are a fierce protector, I must admire that. However, my didi needs help. His wounds… are far too great.”

“Then Qing-jie can help! Qing-jie is the best doctor!”

LXC pressed his lips together before sighing, “I’m afraid… Wen Qing is not here to help us.”

Qing-jie still hasn’t come back? But Xian-gege told him she’d come back with Ning-ge. He looks around one more time… where is everyone? Why hasn’t Xian-Gege come out of his hiding place? The boy backs up until his back collides with LWJ's chest, who instantly wraps his arms around him and envelopes him in a tight embrace.

“Rich-gege… Wh-Where is Xian-gege?”

LWJ inhales sharply and then in a mere whisper he says, “I’m sorry…”

It doesn’t make sense, why would he apologize? He didn’t like any of this… he didn’t like the sour feeling in his stomach and he didn’t like how sad rich-gege looked. “I want Xian-gege…”

“I’m sorry, A-Yuan…. I’m sorry…” LWJ repeated with grief, more tears flowing down his cheeks. He had the same expression Xian-Gege had when he woke up after Ning-ge brought him back from his trip. It was scary to see Xian-gege and Ning-ge fighting. “I couldn’t protect him… please, forgive me…” LWJ sobbed as he hugged the child tighter.

At some point, A-Yuan’s eyes started to sting with tears. He wanted his Xian-gege and his popo, and Qing-Jie, and Ning-ge… where were they…?

“Where is Xian-gege…?” He asked again but this time with tears slowly falling down his cheeks. He couldn’t take it anymore, the uncertainty. The sad look the people in white gave him and rich-gege crying.

With a shove, he escapes the safe, warm embrace and scrambles out of the bed and runs past everyone and out of the nice house. The world outside was brighter, it almost blinded him how the sky was so blue and there was green everywhere. It was so unlike the grey and darkness casting over the mountain that he called home.

“Xian-gege!!” A-Yuan screamed as he ran, ignoring the calls from the people in the house. “A-Niang! A-Niang!”

The boy ran, and ran until his little legs couldn’t carry him any longer. He hadn’t realized where he was going, but he found himself surrounded by tall trees. It was too much. He just wanted his A-Niang to come get him. So he cried for him. He cried for his family to come get him.

“A-Yuan!” Someone called desperately, “A-Yuan!”

“A-Niang…?” He swears he saw a flutter of dark robes through the trees, but once the person came into the light he realized it was LWJ. Despair and fear clouded his features as he called for the boy, and it reminded him when he got lost in the market and had met rich-gege for the first time.

Rich-gege was safe, it’s what Wwx always said to him. So A-Yuan stands from where he was hiding and runs towards LWJ, clinging to his leg just like he had the first time.

LWJ instantly crumbles, picking and hugging the boy despite the bloody mess on his back. “A-Yuan…”

A-Yuan sniffles, burying his face on his chest. Staining his robes with tears, “Xian-gege…”

LWJ sucks in a sharp breath, “Gone… Forgive me…”

So both of them cry, being there for each other as they mourn the ones they lost.

[jennifer-jeong]

Fluff + Crack | L&DS x Reader Rizzing Them Up With Slang

Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel

Are you guys rockin with my photo editing skills or what LMAOOOO I laughed very hard while making this

CONTENT Fluff, crack, flirting with love and deepspace men by calling them handsome, implied feminine reader in Rafayel’s because he calls you pretty lady, CHARACTERS ARE 18+

AUTHOUR NOTE HELLO so I tend to play games like Genshin, Tears of Themis, and L&DS in mandarin because it’s the games native language and I speak mandarin so it makes me happy and comfy hehe. So basically I was thinking that if the characters call you things like “xiao jie” (english = “little lady” or “darling”), you could call them something like “shuai gei” (english = “handsome guy” or “lady-killer/papi”) LOL

You see him reading on the couch in your shared apartment as you’re preparing for a date. He’s waiting for you and looks amazing so you say:

“帅哥~, 准备好了吗?” Pinyin: “shuài gē~, zhǔnbèi hǎole ma?” English (direct translation): “handsome guy~, are you ready?” English: “hey papi~, are you ready to go?”

Xavier/Shen Xinghui

He looks at you blank faced and then starts to sound out the word, trying to understand what it even means. He raises an eyebrow and says he understands that you’re saying he’s handsome but…??? So you end up explaining it to him anyways (he’s such a boomer but it’s cute because he’s YOUR boomer <3). You tell him that he indeed looks handsome and you just wanted to let him know in a funny way. He nods, smiles, and then thanks you. He puts his hand over yours and reaches the other hand to cup your cheek, making sure that you know he thinks you’re so pretty. As you giggle in response you can both feel your hearts fluttering as you press your lips together.

Zayne/Li Shen

He looks at you deadpan, almost mildly offended (teasing rizz), before going back to his book. On the inside he’s trying not to laugh because he always loves your antics and will only play dumb to tease you (he’s secretly a just a silly lil guy). You try to keep using the slang but he just continues to say “I don’t know what that means, say it properly.” You refuse because you’re pretty sure he knows this slang. After a few more tries you let out a huff and mutter something about just wanting to compliment him for being handsome or whatever while pouting. He finally breaks and chuckles, saying he loves your expressions while snaking his hands around your waist. You start to argue back but he cuts you off with kisses on your forehead, hands, and finally, lips.

Rafayel/Qi Yu

Raises an eyebrow, slightly shocked, but then makes a proud face and pretends to hair flip (zesty). He smirks because he knows what you’re getting at and he wants to make you say it again. He cups a hand to his ear facing you and flutters his eyelashes at you and says “sorry, I didn’t catch that.” You laugh at his silliness before a lightbulb appears above your head. You walk closer to him and lean down to his ear and say it again, slowly and seductively. His eyes blow wide open and he blushes hard, his face and ears turning red. He stutters and then coughs into his hand. He reaches out to grab your hand and leans his other arm on the back of the couch (nervous rizz) and says:

“对, 准备好了, 我的美女~” Pinyin: “duì, zhǔnbèi hǎole, wǒ de měinǚ~” English (direct): “yes, I’m ready, my pretty lady~” English: “yes, I’m ready to go, mamacita~”

|| MASTERLIST ♡ || This was really fun to make LOL thank you for reading! ||

[nikito0x]

My first impressions of the tgcf characters before I properly entered the fandom.

What brought me to tgcf was initially the fanart. I just kept on seeing beautiful art of two people who looked absolutely smitten with each other.

The first impression I had of HuaLian:

"Oh, they are the eternal soulmates type of ship." Because I saw fanart of only the two of them together and never with anyone else. I didn't even know their names or the fact that they aren't a ship - they are canon. I compared them to couples like AshEiji , the Ineffable Husbands, Catradora and Merthur. I just loved the fanart because just looking at it you know the artists were trying to portray the love in their eyes.

The thing is, there isn't as much HuaLian fanart where they are kissing as there is of them just looking lovingly at each other or just them laughing together. That's how you know you're dealing with a soulmate couple. You don't need to have them be physically affectionate in art to know they are soulmates.

Anyway. Moving on.

Feng Xin & Mu Qing:

Xie Lian always had two friends/guards of some sort that just kept yelling at him (but also yelled a lot at each other for some reason) to stop going through other people's trash cans and to please stay away from the suspicious dude in red.

And then Xie Lian would be like:

"But the trash is shiny and the guy in red is kind of shiny too..."

And they would be like "Dianxia, no!!" and try pulling Xie Lian away like they were trying to stop their dog from eating something random it found on the ground.

I figured out pretty early on through short comics with them that Xie Lian is or was a prince at some point. I had no idea for the longest time, however, that the books (which I didn't know the name of) were even about gods. Fanart didn't exactly mention that xd.

The realization went something like this:

Phase 1: Oh cool, so one of the soulmates is a prince.

Phase 2: Huh, okay so I guess they are both royalty of a sort.

Phase 3: Ghost city? I mean sure. Humans and ghosts. Sounds interesting.

Phase 4: Gods??? Where did the Gods come from?? Were there always Gods!?... The prince is a God?!?!?

So when this well dressed guy, who obviously had a position of power came around, and was acting all concerned (in fanart) about dear old Xianle but wasn't doing anything to better his situation, I got immediately suspicious of him. But Jun Wu wasn't portrayed that often in fanart with Dianxia from what I could see, so while I was suspicious, I didn't really think much of it.

Characters' names

I was soo confused for the longest time. Everyone had at least two names, some had more than that and then some had additional titles.

When I realized Hua Cheng alone had four different names, I was just about to give up. What is this secret identity bullshit?? This looks worse than Miraculous!!

Like, let's count together.

Hong-er, Wu Ming, San Lang, Hua Cheng, Chengzu, Crimson Rain Sought Flower, a Calamity, a Supreme, a Ghost King.

Can you count them? I don't even want to. And of course his husband-to-be has to match him too, in titles at least.

Then there is the rest of the cast like:

Feng Xin -> Nan Yang

Mu Qing -> Xuan Zhen

Pei Ming -> Ming Guang

Nangong Jie -> Ling Wen

And then there was a sword with the name Fang Xin for some reason and I was wondering how it connected to that Feng Xin guy.

I was so lost. For such a long time. But I didn't have time to read the books so...

Anyway those were my first impressions of the tgcf fandom and characters.

[manonim]

The round three ends soon so it’s time for some Jie propaganda!

Look at them go!

Ok… Jie works hard to win and so do I! My opponent is very strong and she won’t let me win easily but I won’t either!

Please vote for your winner !

@lmk-oc-competition

Also a full picture:

I must say it looks pretty well even though I made it in rush, still it haunts me that it could look cooler if only I wasn’t busy with school…

[sooniebby]

Crack headcanons— my OCs dick size/thick of slender..Yall better like this…

Yubin — 6, slender

Riki — 5, thick (he also has a knot attached to it)

Jun Jie — 5, thick

Eun Jae — 6, slender

Kimura — 5, slender

Nalin — 6, slender

Soojin — 7, thick (he’s also pretty tall, 6’2)

Levi — 6, thick

Vincent — 7, slender

Mikey — 6, thick

Keita — 6, slender

Xavier — 8, thick

Yuta — 8, thick

Yichen — …. 9.5… thick… (he’s a big man already he’s like 6’6, obvs he big down there too!)

Yichen biggest dick and tallest OC!! Let’s go for my baby girl!!

Now when it comes to boobs… Yichen, Vincent, and Xavier wins.

Ass? Yuta only—everyone else flat I’m sorry yall 😞

[velveteen-vampire]

please tell us more about the Jiequan/Yi swap pretty please with a cherry on top

i can try to wrangle my brain in enough to dump a little bit of what we had figured out for it.

basically jiequan used his money and research into transmutation to join the tiandao council like in canon but in this au he is much less about trying to replicate the aesthetic and ideals of jietong and much more about putting up a veneer of "righting ancient wrongs" and "using jie's resources for the good of all of penglai" in order to put public opinions in his favor (while still doing fucked up shit like torturing kanghui on the downlow). this is why he hasnt transmutated himself (or if he has its not in the same way as canon) yi is mostly normal UNTIL heng actually dies of tianhuo way before new kunlun is finished with construction. in his grief he becomes entirely misanthropic and demotivated, opting to basically shut himself away from the world and just focus on his work. with yi even more antisocial than normal and completely out of the public eye, jiequan uses his charisma to position himself as the face of new kunlun i havent entirely figured out why eigong kills him (probably something to do with her realizing that he fully intends to overthrow her and revive the jie kingdom when tianhuo is cured) AND i havent figured out how he ends up in the apeman village at all but he does! and he gets shuanshuan'd. in this au the home base is not the pavilion, but the prison, changed in layout slightly to accommodate being a safe-ish zone. the home base part of it is only a few walls away from all the guards and sentries, though. jiequan is keeping his kid only BARELY out of harms way. yi also took over the transmutation factory in jiequan's absence.

ji is also here helping jiequan. he ends up taking a very abacus kind of role. though he still makes jiequan fight him before eigong. both of them are excited about that fight lmao

when it comes to the sols, jiequan actually kills kuafu. kuafu is the sol right before yi and killing him triggers yi to come out of hiding and send an endless wave of geno guards after jiequan to capture him. when he does he tells jiequan that he found shuanshuan and captured him/took him away but he is actually bluffing because ji hid shuanshuan away somewhere else before yi could search the entire prison. yi decides to torture jiequan to get revenge for kuafu's death but it activates the secret freak inside of him and he enjoys it a little too much. which jiequan notices. jiequan is still a little bit on his "we're actually the same" crap with yi and he is a little bit right.

theres a miniboss with abacus where you have to insert some kind of sabotaging device to break him entirely. and i think theres probably a little mini boss with yi somewhere in here where jiequan kills him but he regenerates, so at his actual fight jiequan actually rips the cords out of yis head and plugs him into abacus, trapping him in a goumang-like feedback loop where he is alive but totally suffering the entire time. this, too, is yaoi.

we also had a few ocs in there for fun, like marble's zhan and my buddy rubric's xiawen, but this post is already getting long so ill probably talk more about their involvement when we actually figure that out.

[rhysiana]

Because I saw a post about how modern AU WWX would probably actually be as tall as LWJ, if not taller, since so many modern AUs don't feature him suffering as much childhood privation as canon, which reminded me of another thought I have had, about how an early life period of interrupted growth can in fact just delay a person's growth spurts rather than eliminating them. Thus: WWX who gets confusingly taller after graduating from college.

3 People Wei Ying Talked to About Suddenly Getting Taller and 1 Person Who Definitely Noticed On His Own

[Now also on AO3]

Wen Ning

Wei Ying looked down at his feet, perplexed. "Wen Ning?" he yelled down the hall. "Did something weird happen to the washing machine that you didn't tell me about?"

Wen Ning popped his head around the door to Wei Ying's room. "No? I don't think so."

"Then why are all my pants suddenly too short?" A new thought occurred to him and he looked up, now delighted. "Wen Ning! Are you actually pulling a prank on me? I know I don't have all that many clothes, but still, this must have taken so much work! I respect the dedication." He held out a fist.

Wen Ning just blinked at him. "I think... maybe you got taller, actually?"

Wei Ying scoffed. "I'm way too old for a growth spurt. Seriously, did Nie Huaisang put you up to this?"

Wen Ning gave up arguing and simply produced a tape measure instead.

~*~

Wen Qing

Wei Ying burst into Wen Qing's lab, which he might have felt worse about if she hadn't been babysitting an experiment while no one else was around. He still received an impressive glare, but he didn't have time to worry about that right now.

"Wen Qing, I need you to test me for every weird kind of chemical exposure you can think of!"

She blinked at him, looking remarkably like her brother for a moment. "Wei Ying, you're in computer science. Exactly when do you come in contact with chemicals?"

"Uh. A leak on the science campus somewhere?"

"What is actually wrong with you? Tell me in the next," she glanced at the clock, "three minutes or leave."

"I apparently grew another inch in the last month without noticing. That can't be natural. I'm 23."

She stared at him for a moment, frowned, and then her expression cleared. "You said once that you had a bad time when you were younger. Stopped growing for a while."

"Why do you even remember that?" Wei Ying asked with an uncomfortable laugh, looking away. He must have been drunk; he didn't usually bring that time of his life up in any detail. It just made people sad.

Wen Qing turned away briskly, ignoring his minor display of emotion, and checked some readouts he was pretty sure hadn't actually changed in any way yet. "Well, that's why. Your growth spurts just got delayed, not erased. It's normal. I'll send you some references tomorrow."

He swept her up in a relieved hug. "Thank you, Qing-jie. Even if this does mean I'm not developing some weird superpower mutation."

She poked him cruelly in the ribs to get him to let go. "Go away, you're distracting me."

~*~

Jiang Cheng

"You what?!" Jiang Cheng demanded at full volume. It'd been a while since they'd managed to get together in person--Wei Ying had nearly forgotten how red with frustration Jiang Cheng could get.

Wei Ying grinned and bounced a little on his toes to really rub it in. "Grew another inch."

"No! This isn't allowed! The universe can't do this to me!"

"What's the problem, little brother?" Wei Ying edged closer so he could prop his elbow on Jiang Cheng's shoulder and really lean on him. "I think I should get jiejie to measure me again and mark it on the door frame. Really make it official."

"Don't you dare!"

"Why don't I ask her now, so she'll be all ready when we see her next weekend?" Wei Ying fished out his phone and then held it up over his head, laughing, as Jiang Cheng lunged for it.

Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed. "An inch isn't really that much," he growled, and hooked Wei Ying's leg in a takedown they'd both learned when they were 11.

Wei Ying tossed his phone out of wrestling range and turned his full attention to finding a hold that would make Jiang Cheng tap out.

~*~

Lan Zhan

"Wei Ying."

Most people claimed Lan Zhan's voice (and face) didn't have any expression, but Wei Ying could clearly hear the shock underlying his name.

"Lan Zhan!" he returned brightly. "You're back! Did you have a good trip? You've been gone for months and months!"

Wei Ying was used to the intensity of Lan Zhan's regard under normal circumstances--one of the many things he loved about being friends with him--but he didn't think he was imagining that it was particularly intense today.

"It was as I texted you," Lan Zhan said shortly, and then, surprisingly, continued before Wei Ying could get a teasing reply in. "Wei Ying... did you get taller?"

"Oh, that!" Wei Ying felt himself start to blush, for some reason. "Yeah, I did. It was so weird at first, but Qing-jie assures me it's normal, and I've almost gotten used to it now. It was just an inch but I had to go buy all new... pants..." He trailed off as Lan Zhan pushed into his personal space much closer than he ever had without Wei Ying initiating it first, as far as Wei Ying could recall. "Hi?"

They were nearly chest to chest now, and he could see it when Lan Zhan actually had to tilt his chin up just a bit to meet Wei Ying's eyes.

"Hello," Lan Zhan said, grave and low and very, very focused.

Wei Ying wasn't entirely sure what was happening right now, but he was pretty sure he was into it.

[strewwwberry]

I’ve seen a few posts spinning the idea that Shen yuan had ex-girlfriends before getting transmigrated

This was where I got pretty much this entire idea from so I give entire credi to them lol coz I basically copied it in different words 😂

Go check it out first! :

I love it so much, and the cherry on top has to be that it would totally make sense for him to have had girlfriends like are you kidding me,

He’s described as decently attractive and if we know anything about how shen yuan describes himself and others that aren’t through obvious bias (such as yue Qingyuan, Shen qingqiu and liu qingge first looks he gets of them) then I’m confident in that he’s probably telling the truth, we also know he’s rich as hell, he’s a literal neet/nepo baby, and we also know that he has siblings, more specifically a little sister.

Now as someone who can have insight into the woman’s brain as someone raised a woman™, a guy who gets along with their little sister is a green flag

Now all that in mind, shen yuan getting some is not that shocking in all honesty, and frankly his nerdiness probably added to his charm for some girls and his totally not gay just respect women juice also probably got some oblivious girls to go "awww what a sweetheart"

So yes, shen yuan with exes is spectacular for the logical reasons

Now the funny reasons.

Can you imagine him talking to airplane about this? Shang qinghua is just like well wtf do you know about sex you virgin and shen yuans just like "Lan-Jie thought I was great stfu"

Shang qinghua would be flabbergasted

And to add to that, shang qinghua definitely catfished shen yuan and I will stand by that in any shen yuan has exes universes

Going off of the other post linked above, shang qinghua with some nickname like "Xiao Hua" or maybe "Xiao Mei" just meaning little sister and shen yuan just never questioning it until Shang Qinghua just up and ghosts him after realising nah this dude gay a hell

Back to svsss and Shen yuan is listing off his exes and mentions "Xiao Mei" on his like 47th ex an sqh is just like

😃😃

Humour my darling, I'm cackling

Anyway brainrot over have a good night/morning/afternoon (￢ ‿ ￢ )

[jiecomic]

Chapter 1- The contract

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Red Son walked through the corridor with a mischievous grin on his face chuckling to himself, right before his mother's room he cleared his throat and walked in slamming the doors into the wall.

" Mother!" He jelled as soon as he kicked the heavy doors "I think I found it!"

Iron Fan turned to her son and looked at the roll of paper which was in his hand.

" Finally..." her red lips formed an evil smile

The women moved to her son and took the paper before Red Son was able to say anything.

"After all these years..." she started to unroll the map "After thousand years my love will be able to come back to living!"

She stared with a flaming gaze at the red marking on the map.

" How are the preparations?" Iron Fan turned to her son with a face full of enthusiasm

" Everything will be ready within a month" Red Son smiled showing all his teeth

"Great" Iron Fan nodded and with a map in her hand she came closer to Red Son "Soon your father will be free again and we, the family of Demon Bull King will raise and rule this world!" She started laughing at the end, soon her son joined her.

The son and his mother were so absorbed in their 'villain moment' that they didn't realise... that they weren't alone....

Just under the ceiling, in a small crack, there was a spy who followed their every move with its red eyes. As quietly as possible the little creature disappeared in the darkness leaving only a small cloud of pink dust...

Jie sat on her cough as soon as she teleported to her house. She buried her nose in her hands letting her elbows rest on the table, after spending a few minutes in this position, she lifted her head. She was emotionally tired but tears still didn't stop flowing from her eyes.

Her lips were formed into something that looked like a smile of a person screaming inside of their head.

"It's all over..." she whimpered quietly, her voice was pretty dry from exhaustion

" Goodbye my old, uncomfortable cough" she whined while trying to stand on her two feet, after that she moved to the coffee table "Goodbye you piece of wood... I'll never forget the pain you give me when I hurt my toe on you"

Then she moved to every other furnitures in the room, then to the kitchen and even a toilet, at the end was her animal which was... well let's say that it was hard to interpret it's race. But for Jie it was a dog, and that's the reason behind his name.

" Gou..." Jie hugged a little beast in her arms still crying like a baby, Gou probably didn't understand the atmosphere since he was only chewing his tail while Jie continued her goodbye " Listen your little demon, your gonna be better without your mom, ok? I-I hic...hic... I left you your favourite snacks and...sniff... and put my picture near your bed so that you wouldn't cry after meee!"

She left him at the floor and got her luggage from gods know where.

" Goodbye, thank you for staying by my side all those years but... You'll going to be safer without me!" She said as she opened the door of her house

Just before taking the first step she froze due to the sudden realisation...

'I have nowhere to go to...' she thought while closing the door

With that Jie decided that leaving her home and bab- *ahem* pet... wasn't a good idea so she started unpacking.

***

"I'm gonna fight them!" Jie stood up pointing her fist to the ceiling " No... Princess Iron Fan will kill me in a second with the help of that lunatic son of hers..." with that thought all energy left her body "Would be much easier if my powers weren't sealed away" she scratched the back of her neck while swearing at the Jade Emperor in her mind.

" That's the end huh?"- she looked at her photos on the wall, all with her and Gou. Some were taken on holiday, some on a beach, the cutest one was with her and Gou celebrating her 2000 birthday "Well... maybe I didn't deserve more than just those thousand years...WAIT!

Jie suddenly stood up all filled with energy from her toes to head "There is a way!"she stood like that for 3 seconds " Cause... He will help me right?" She started to question her decision.

'There is a way that he will agree... although...'

Suddenly she felt something pulling her dress. When she looked down Jie's eyes met the innocent gaze of Gou.

A smile had slowly appeared on her face.

"Don't worry Gou..." She crouched to pet her dog "Till now I have been only hiding, it's time to fight for my life!"

With that thought Jie snapped her fingers and teleported.

She felt confident with her decision and was ready to stand before a great sage.

***

Jie wasn't confident anymore.

She was standing on a beach of Flower Fruit Mountain (the farthest she could teleport to) questioning literally every of her life choices that leaded her to this damn mountain.

" Maybe moving out wasn't such a bad idea..?- It's not like I was never homeless anyway..."

Right when she was about to go back Jie noticed that she wasn't alone.

"Gou?!"

'Damn it! I had to bring him along by accident!'

The dog was so excited about visiting a new place that he ignored his owner and ran into bushes as fast as he could.

"Wait!"

"Gouuuu!"

"Whyyy are you doing this to me..!"

And like this, the great chase had started!

(By the way Gou won)

***

Without realisation Jie had entered the secret cave of Sun Wukong.

She had no idea how had she been able to break the seal, but probably thanks to despair.

" Gou..." she whispered as quietly as she could "Gou..." this time a little bit louder

Woof!

Jie's heart almost escaped through her throat when Gou had answered to her call just next to her.

Now when she didn't have to worry about her pet Jie looked around.

Judging by the state of this place there was NO WAY that the Monkey King would still live here.

At least that's what Jie hoped for.

'I've got so far, it would be a shame to not at least try...'

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

"MONKEY KING!!!"

"Are you here!?"

When her calls started echoing through the cave she started counting to three in her mind.

'One'

'Two'

'Three...'

"..."

"Looks like he isn't at home, well what a sha-

"HI THERE!"

At that moment Jie's heart really jumped to her throat.

She made a few steps back trying to calm herself but when she saw HIM her instincts were ordering her to run as fast as she could.

"M-Monkey King?!"- she jelled while looking behind at a specific monkey

" Yeah!- the one and only!" He answered proudly

"But..." he moved closer to Jie and looked at her as if he had a scanner in his eyes "Do I know you...? I don't remember fighting you..."

"You're right" Jie was finally able to say something "My name is-

" What are you here for?" The monkey cut Jie off as if he was already tired of her presence

"I'm here cause-

" You want to fight?"

"NO!"

" You want an autograph?"

"No, I-

" You came here because you feel like a tiny piece of dust in a big universe and you seek for a reason of your existence?"

"...No..."

" Aha! So you came here for the peaches of immortality!"

"WHAT?!- wait, why do you even have them?-BUT NO! I'M NOT HERE FOR ANY PEACHES!"

" Then you are here for-

'Gah! This will take an eternity!'

"Forgive me for interrupting you, but I'm not here for a fight, an autograph, a philosophy lecture or some magic fruits!" Since Monkey King was FINALLY listening to Jie, she decided to use this chance "I mean no charm, ok?"

Chomp!

"..."

"..."

" Is this thing yours?" Wukong asked calmly while raising his arm, his arm with such a beautiful, yellow sleeve made from an old, expensive fabric...which Gou was trying to eat...

"It's my dog"

"Take it away until it's still in one piece"

"Yes sir…"

Thankfully Jie was able to stop Gou from chewing Monkey King's clothes.

Wukong was checking his sleeve's condition while Jie was sweating and screaming in pain (mentally).

" I'm sorry..." the demoness muttered quietly. Since Wukong didn't seem to be angry and was a little distracted she decided to finally have a serious talk with him "I'm really sorry for interrupting your peaceful time, but this is half of why I'm here. You didn't know about me till now even though I was living in this city for hundreds years because I was hiding from you. You and every other being that could kill me while all I wanted was a peaceful life..."

She looked at the monkey to see if he pays any attention to her. Thanks gods he seemed pretty interested in her speech.

" As you can see I'm a demon, that's why for many years I was doing only what was expected from a monster, then I faced the consequences and... lost everything... but thanks to you, for the last thousand years I was able to finally live my life the way I wanted.- And I don't want to lose this. The family of Demon Bull King is planning something and you're aware of that. So please... in order to keep our peaceful lives, please... let me stand next to you"

Jie bowed her head and waited for Wukong’s reaction.

" So you want to be my ally? Don't feel offended but... you don't look too strong"

That actually hurt Jie's pride but it didn't take her long to recover and continue

" Unfortunately you’re right, half of my power was sealed away long time ago, but believe me" she looked up at him with a red light in her eyes "If you give me an order I will show your enemies the true fury of the fox demon"

"Ha... sounds more like a servant than an ally" at the end of the sentence Wukong grinned

" If that's who you want, then I'll fit in that role"

The Monkey King seemed to consider Jie's offer.

" Come to think of it..." his face started to show a little bit of excitation " I'm a king... but all I have is a group of a little cute monkeys..." He looked at Jie again. She could tell that he was using a golden sight on her. It really felt as if he seen her through at that moment.

"At least five tails your hiding huh?- he chuckled quietly "ALRIGHT! Since now youuuuuu...."

" Jie"

" JIE, are under my command! As a servant of a great Sage equal to heaven, The Monkey King- Sun Wukong!

Wukong stood in front of a kneeling Jie while lifting his arm as if to reach the demoness, as the air between them became tense and a strange string of golden light connected their wrists Jie knew that the ritual of contract started...

The contract between demons isn't a normal contract. It's like an exchange. A servant gives their live and loyalty to their master, while master shares a little of their power with them. The thing is that only master can break the contract.

At that moment Jie was able to feel the power of Monkey King running through her veins.

' Such a little power and I already feel like my body is about to explode...'

She also allowed herself to look at Monkey King's soul orb.

You see, Jie has a special ability that allows her to see the souls of livings trapped in an orb. With that Jie could always recognise the power, personality and sometimes the intention of the soul's owner.

There is not such a thing like two identical souls but Jie had never seen a soul like Wukong's. It was bright to the point when she though she's going blind, so hot that it could burn her if she had ever reached for it, it was big and it's shape was changing every second as if someone put it into a fire. All because this poor little orb couldn't contain the full strength of the great Monkey King.

' He really is dangerous...'

' But that's good'

Jie suddenly felt an ache on her wrists, she looked at them and saw the two golden rings around her hands.

' Like a chain'

"Is it done?" Monkey King broke into Jie's thoughts "I've never done this before..."

Unconsciously Jie started rubbing her neck, where a jade necklace was hanging. Or, how she liked to say- her death threat.

"Don't worry Master... Everything is just as it should be"

There was no way for Monkey King to know it back then but Jie hid something important from him... the fact that if she found their contract inconvenient for her she could easily break it. Which gave her an advantage.

'There's no way I'll let him use me, for the sake of my life I will never let anyone do that again...'

"So... when are you going to strike the Demon Bull King's family?" Jie asked as if she was ready to cause chaos and beat some demons with her new powers, now she was confident to win against Princess Iron Fan!

"ME?!"Monkey King started to laugh his head off "Nah, I won't even lift a finger!- I'm retired! "

Jie looked as if someone had turned her into a stone "T-Then whose gonna fight the Demon Bull King?!"

"Well, my successor of course!"

"..."

"Excuse me?"

This way the great Monkey King managed to destroy all of Jie's hopes in one sentence

End of chapter 1

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[googleitlol]

Teeheehee, I've been excited to post this one! Dove is getting the princess treatment she deserves, whether she wants it or not…

I do have a bit of a surprise with this one tho, so we're gonna start with a bit of a flashback ;)

Dove Masterlist:

Camellia

Crickets chirp in a layered symphony, their song a lullaby of the forest they call home. Moonlight dimly scatters over the leaves of tall trees that stretch into the clear night sky. Two pairs of feet thump through a narrow dirt path, a young girl laughing as she races through the night, weaving around flora as a boy calls after her.

The boy shouts her name before his voice drops to a hush whisper. “Someone’s going to hear you! You’ll get the both of us in trouble!”

“Lighten up, Jiejie.” The girl giggles, looking back to her friend without slowing down. “The only one who lives close enough to hear us is Mrs. Shan, and everyone says she can’t hear anything anymore. She’s too old!”

The boy quickens his pace, and the girl slows down enough for him to catch up. “Still, what if there’s something out here?” He looks to and fro as he speaks, scanning for any sign of something lurking in the shadows.

The little girl lets out an overly-dramatic groan. “Now you’re just being ridiculous. We come down here all the time! What, are you afraid a toad is gonna jump at you?” She grins, mischief written on her face as she grabs her friend’s arm.

The boy jumps, shooting her a frown. “No! I’m not afraid of little things.”

“Then, come on!” She lets the boy go, running ahead and calling for him over her shoulder. The boy gives a shout before running after her, but it doesn’t take long for her to outrun him. He’s always been a slow runner.

The little girl sprints ahead, only slowing once she loses sight of her friend. Her pace slows to a stroll, taking her time as she waits for her favourite boy to catch up. She knows she was overexaggerating about his fears, but when she did stuff like that he always had the funniest reactions.

The girl catches sight of something on the side of the path and slows to a stop. A blooming purple flower, one unlike what she’s seen before perks her interest. She crouches down by it, her head tilting with fascination.

She reaches out a hand to inspect the petals when her arm is grabbed. “Careful!” Jie warns, crouching down with her. He lets go once her hand retreats back to her side. “You can’t just touch any pretty plants you see, stupid.”

“Hey, don’t call me stupid!” She pouts.

The boy huffs, clearly annoyed. “That’s what you are, stupid. Especially if you touch that.” He points to the flower, turning his attention to it.

“It’s monkshood, my father says to watch out for it, because every part of it is poisonous! Especially the roots.” The little girl rolls her eyes, recognising the start of one of the boy’s spiels. “He says there’s no cure if it gets you sick, you just have to monitor the person’s symptoms and make sure they stay in stable condition. Some people use it as medicine, but it’s still really dangerous, you have to be careful if you try–.”

The young girl yawns loudly, the boy sending her a scowl as she does. “Okay, I get it. Don’t touch the pretty flower.” She unveils an implike grin at the face he makes at her. Sometimes, Jie likes to get lost in his words, he might ramble on for hours if she let him have the peace to do it. Maybe he can find himself a job where all he does is talk, with how much he already loves chattering.

Jie sighs, looking away before a grin of his own appears. “You know… my father says that some people dip their weapons in the poison for hunting.”

“Really?” She gasps, the boy’s smile growing larger now that he has her interest piqued.

He still can’t stop himself from rolling his eyes over her excitement, his smile still present. “You’re a very violent person.”

“I’m a very strong person!” She jumps up, a fist raised into the air.

Her passion does little to stir her friend, who remains crouched. “You only care about fighting.”

The girl frowns. “No… I mean, fighting is pretty cool, isn’t it?” She asks, sitting on her knees to face him. “Don’t you wanna know how to fight? You can use that flower or something, then BAM!” She jabs the side of her fist into her chest, grunting in faux-pain and throwing herself backwards, to the ground.

The boy laughs, amusement from her antics clear. “You’re crazy.”

“No, I’m dead.” She corrects him, eyes closed as her corpse remains unanimated on the ground. “You said there’s no cure for that purple flower.”

“Monkshood.”

“Whatever.”

“Fine, then. I’ll make one!” He shouts, and before the girl can open her eyes, the boy slams his hands onto her stomach. She lurches up from the impact with a cough, the surprise quickly giving way to laughter.

The boy goes to speak, but stops himself when the two hear a thud further along the path. Jie jumps a bit at the sound, the softest squeak escaping his throat as the girl jumps to her feet. “Baby.” She teases, looking down at the boy, now shooting her an icy glare.

“Am not!” He frowns, but she pays him no mind.

“What was that?” She thinks aloud, her feet moving towards the source before she can even realise what she’s doing.

The boy’s eyes go wide. “Hey, wait for me!” He shouts, following after her.

Slowing down enough for her friend, the two follow where they heard the noise further down the path, to a baby bird on the ground. Jie is quick to step in front of his friend and kneel down to the bird 

“Is it hurt, Jie?” The girl looks over his shoulder before kneeling down as well, scooping the bird into her hands.

The boy frowns, looking over the bird as it lets out a weak chirp. “It looks a little disoriented. Maybe we should go back.” He suggests, looking back from where the two walked from, the girl yawning a bit as he does. “I can ask my father to–”

Before he can finish, the bird flies off. The girl blinks a bit in confusion, a question washing over her mind as Jie hums. “…Oh. Nevermind, I guess.”

“Why would a baby bird be flying around at night?” She asks, looking up at her friend.

The boy’s brows furrow, his gaze turning to look out towards the the forest. “I don’t know…” He mumbles, peering into the shadows. “Let’s go back home.”

“What?” The girl squeaks while her friend stands. She quickly follows after him as he begins to walk back to where they came from. “But you said you wanted to show me something by the pond!”

“I said it was on the way to the pond. You passed it when you ran ahead.” He corrects her, sending her another annoyed frown.

“Oh.”

His frown gives way to a small smile, and he takes her hand in his. “Come on, I can show you on the way.”

The boy’s smile is almost contagious, the little girl’s lips quirking upward as she lets Jie lead her to whatever it is he has to show.

The two run together, hand in hand, only slowing once the boy strays from the dirt path. He takes the lead, guiding his friend under low-hanging branches, through vines and over fallen logs. It doesn’t take long before they come across several shrubs littered with flowers, vibrant reds dispersed over green leaves. The flowers have large rounded petals, all layered over top of one another with dozens of golden stamen in their centre.

The girl inspects the flora with delight. “Woah, what are they?”

“Camellia flowers.” Jie explains, letting go of her hand to pick one of the flowers. “My father took me with him to pick some for mother. He said something about their p-petals and th-the calyx…” He starts to stutter, looking back to his friend with a shy smile before averting his eyes.

“I know you think that stuff is boring, though. I just– I thought you would like one ‘cause they’re pretty.” He holds the flower out to the girl, his face starting to warm.

The girl looks down at the flower, then back to him, a smile growing on her face. “It is pretty, Jiejie.” She accepts the flower, taking the opportunity to give the boy a quick peck on his cheek.

His face bursts into a red as bright as the camellia in her hand, the reaction sending the girl into a fit of giggles as she turns away. “Come on, I thought you wanted to go back home!” She calls back before running ahead. If she goes fast enough, she can blame her own flushed cheeks on being out of breath.

The boy's steps thump from behind, his startled voice shouting her name. “Wait for me!”

The clack of a door closing draws you away from your daydreams, and you realise for the first time since you’ve left the post house that you are finally alone.

You look around the room given to you, one that is much more spacious than what you stayed the last night in. Your weapons lay by your new bed, which alone could have taken up more than half of the space in that small room! To the left of the bed, a large round window gives you access to a view of the gardens, an area of them you hadn’t noticed in your last visit. To the right is the door that leads to the hall, and the door opposite of the bed led to the room where the palace ladies who just left had bathed you. The ladies had put you into what has to be the most luxurious hanfu you have ever worn behind the folding screen that stood adjacent to the room you bathed in.

The robes are a deep green, the collar trimmed in white. The skirt and sleeves are embroidered in white as well, with swirling patterns that furl out into wings, ironically enough. A green tassel hangs from a white sash, a small jade pendant tied to it.

Those women had also done your makeup, and you couldn’t help but zone out as they dressed you up. Having so many hands touching up your hair and putting it up, brushes in your face colouring your lips and lining your eyes, it’s all treatment you aren’t used to. At least you have a moment to yourself now to think.

You fall back onto the bed, feeling the stress of your situation weighing you down. Even coherent thoughts feel like a challenge after everything that’s happened in the last few hours. You can’t marry some random prince! What would Moksa say to you now, what would Guan Yin do?! Why would this Jian Yu even want to marry you? What, did he take you saving his life as some kind of courtship? How could Sun Wukong accept such an offer on your behalf?!

As though the demon can hear your thoughts, a thump by your window alerts you to another’s presence. You look up to see the monkey demon sitting in the window, taking a bite out of a mango while he hums. “I thought those girls would never leave.”

You jump to your feet when you see him, fixing the monkey with a glare while his face drops a bit. “Woah…” He looks down at your attire for a moment before his eyes find their way back up to your face. He leans against the window, a grin pulling at his lips while a single brow props up. “Did they pamper you enough, princess?”

His comment isn’t acknowledged as you march up to the simian and drag him into the room, throwing him to the ground. He quickly raises his hands in defence as you grip onto the lapels of his shirt. “I come in peace!” He shouts, your eyes narrowing while his grow large.

“If you aren’t apologising profusely for doing this to me, I don’t want to hear it!” You hiss, your grip on the demon tightening.

He cracks a smile. “How about an explanation?”

You're silent for a moment, your stare hardening into a grimace as you grit your teeth. “Speak.”

“You weren’t with us when we spoke to the king yesterday.” He starts, getting back to his feet once he pries your fingers off of him. “Tripitaka was putting it lightly when he said the guy is sensitive, he tried to have Pigsy killed for speaking out. Do you think he would be lenient if you refuse his son?”

“So your solution is to wed me off to a stranger?!” You scowl while he smooths out his lapels.

The demon scoffs at the question, fixing you with an offended look. “No! Once Tripitaka has his papers recertified, we can have you sneak out of the palace walls and we will be on our way.”

You find yourself understanding Wukong’s process of thought, his plan making sense. If the king spoke to them the same way his son spoke to that servant yesterday, it wouldn’t surprise you if these royals were on the more uptight side. It still does nothing to make this situation feel better than what it is. “You couldn’t have communicated that any better?”

“I figured you would catch on.” He shrugs, and you groan in response. Of course he did, it’d be a miracle if he ever explained what he was doing before doing it.

Too mentally exhausted to do anything else, you lay back on the bed, an exasperated sigh escaping your lips. The monkey standing in the room with you grows silent as you turn onto your side, your back facing him. He approaches the bed and takes a seat next to you. “You smell nice.”

“They put oils in my bath.” You respond curtly, back still to the demon.

 “…You still seem upset.”

“Of course I am!” You snap, whipping your head back to face him and making him flinch slightly in surprise. You soften a bit at his reaction, not meaning to come off so harsh. “I– I don’t want to see him again.”

As you sit up, the sage furrows his brows with confusion. “Who, the prince? What, was he that bad?”

You shake your head. “He just…” What are you supposed to do when you see him again? What if you look at this Jian Yu and can only see Da Jie? Just the way he looked at you in the garden… you don’t want to think about it.

The silence stretches between you before a hand rests on your shoulder. “All you have to do is play the part of the soon-to-be bride, then we can all get out of here.” He reassures you, squeezing your shoulder a bit in comfort. “The others and I will meet with you again later today, and if you really want, I can stay close by in case you need me.”

You look up at him, frown softening as you put your hand over the one on your shoulder. “You better.”

He smiles at your words, exhaling a bit through his nose as he glances down at your hand over his own. His ear twitches for a moment before sighing and his hand retreats. “Call me if you need anything, Ol’ Monkey will be close enough to hear you.” He winks, getting up and turning over to the door leading to the bath.

You frown. “I don’t think you need to stay that close.”

“No, I just want to find whatever oils they used for you.” He calls out from the room. “Maybe I could smell as nice as you.”

That earns him a snicker, and you roll your eyes at his antics. “You’ll need more than a few oils for that.”

You hear him laugh, and in a moment he exits, moving to the window before hopping onto its ledge. You follow him to the window when he turns back to look at you. “Don’t forget, you’ve played my elderly brother before, I’m sure you can play the smitten bird-warrior for a little while.” He reassures you, making you shake your head with a smile at the reminder.

“Oh, I am incredibly honoured to have your hand, My Prince.” You flutter your eyelashes in mock-awe. “Even though I am a devout buddhist monk, on my way to bring scriptures from the Buddha himself to the east, I will happily cease my travels to be with you.”

Your friend lets out a dry laugh. “Ha-ha, cut it out.”

“Oh, whatever do you mean?!”

“Okay, goodbye, I’ll be close.”

The door to your room opens and the demon jumps from your window. You quickly turn to face the newcomer, one of the women who had helped you get ready earlier.

“The prince requests your presence.” She says, and you feel yourself stiffen at the words. With Monkey there just moments before, the entire situation felt less real. “I will take you to him.”

You guess this is it. With a deep breath, you let the woman guide you out of your room and through the halls of the palace. The walk is silent, leaving room for your ever-growing thoughts as they begin to unravel in your mind. You have to remind yourself that all you have to do is play along. Tripitaka’s papers get sorted out with the king, and you can fly out of here and act like none of this ever happened.

The path the servant takes becomes one you recognise, and before you know it, you find yourself in the same gardens from the other day. You are guided down the same path you saw that man with the flowers take, leading you to the bridge where the prince awaits.

Your eyes drift to the ground as the woman announces your presence before being dismissed. Once she leaves, you step onto the bridge to join him, the air tightening around you as you do.

The prince calls you by name, his voice much kinder than what you remember it being yesterday. When you look up, you notice he is holding something wrapped in silk. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you properly.”

“Certainly.” You bow in greeting, your eyes wandering to the pond as you feel an awkward smile stick itself to your face. “You must forgive me… I am not sure how this is meant to work. There is meant to be… uh… negotiations, correct?”

“Negotiations?” The man hums in confusion before chuckling. “Do you mean the dowry? You needn’t worry over any of the complications. In fact, I have already seen to it that they are discussed with your travelling companions. I believe they are already on the grounds discussing that very matter now.”

You can’t help but frown, shouldn’t you be present for that? You weren’t all that interested in the process of getting married when you were younger, so you never really learned much about the details of how it all happened. By the time you became a disciple of Guan Yin, there was no reason for you to learn about it anyways.

“I would like to thank you for saving my life yesterday.” He takes your hand, and you look up to see his smile. He hands you the wrapped gift, lifting the silk to reveal a golden hairpin, the end blooming into a flower with jade in its centre. 

You down at the gift in surprise. “It is beautiful, Your Highness, thank you.”

“Please, call me Jian Yu. We are to be married, after all.” He reminds you, the corner of your lips twitching as he does.

It takes a bit of strain to keep your smile. “Yes…” You glance away back at the water, keeping your hold of the gift tight in your grasp.

“That is, if we see this wedding through.”

Your head swivels back to look at the prince, all pretences of your polite facade dropping the moment those words come out of his mouth “What?” For the first time since the attack, you look him in the eyes. That same uncanny feeling washes over you again as you take in his resemblance to your friend, though his eyes now hold something else, something calculating.

His eyes gleam with amusement over your reaction, a sly smirk revealing itself. “Tell me, what were you doing here yesterday?”

The question takes you a bit off guard. “I caught sight of a servant carrying monkshood, Your– um, Jian Yu. I was only curious, so I followed him.” You explain, a bout of nerves tangling as you feel his eyes studying you.

“Hmm, so you are familiar with the plant?” He hums in seeming curiosity.

“I only know of it, the flower grew near my childhood home.” You respond, the stress of his gaze finally lifting once he turns away.

He walks further up the bridge, muttering to himself. “Interesting.”

You frown a bit, unable to decipher his mumbling nor whatever this process of thought he had. He proposes but alludes to no wedding? Why even ask you? What is the point of you being here?

“Please, forgive my bluntness, but what did you mean by, ‘if we see this wedding through’?” You ask, getting him to look back at you with those wide eyes before letting out a laugh.

He shakes his head in amusement. “There is no need to apologise, I am sure you have been confused over this entire matter. I know you and your companions are buddhist monks, it would not make sense for me to ask for your hand.”

Okay, now you’re really confused. “But… you did ask.”

“I know.” He smiles, and the look of bafflement on your face must have been enough for him to decide he should explain further. He takes your hand again, pulling you closer as his voice drops to a whisper. “Think of this engagement as a ruse. I would like to ask for  your help, but no one can know.”

His words leave you puzzled. “So you want to fake an engagement to throw everyone off? What do you even want my help with?” He frowns at the question, looking up and scanning the surrounding area before leaning closer to you. It takes some willpower not to move away when he does.

“There are very few I trust now, and if you wanted me dead, you would not have saved me.” He explains, his eyes shifting to either side of the bridge while he speaks.

You step back, creating some space between the two of you as he continues. “I need help uncovering who it was who tried to assassinate me yesterday. I can call the wedding off after you do this for me, then you and your friends can continue on your journey.”

It takes a moment for you to digest your words. After spiralling over this whole ‘marriage’ disaster all day and finally coming to terms with how Wukong signed you up for this, now you are being told it’s been a lie to serve for the prince’s investigation?

This is all too much.”Why can’t you send your guards to find them? Is that not their duty, to protect you?” 

“As I said, there are few that I trust in this place. That includes the guards.” He explains, and you feel as though you have to turn away. You lean back against the railing, taking in the insanity of this all. What does he even expect you to do? How can you even begin? You fight demons and relieve anxiety, this is quite outside your comfort zone.

It seems the prince is able to sense your conflict, and you feel him take your hand once again. “Please, I will beg if I have to.” You look back at him, your breath getting caught in your throat when you find his eyes pleading. “This is more important than you know. Not just for my own life… I will give you anything.”

You can’t look away from him, his eyes… the panic on his face. You can still smell the stench of smoke around him, feel that boiling heat every time you look at him. You hear every scrape and clank of metal from that night, and his screams…

“I do not need anything you could give me.” You manage to pry your gaze away from him, looking over your shoulder as a sombre look finds itself on your face. “But… I could not live with myself if I were to refuse you. So yes, I will help you.” You can only hope this will end well.

[ruhua-langblr]

hi! I'm trying to learn chinese but getting pretty stuck with the characters. I wasn't sure whether to learn how to read them first and then figure out how to write them, or do both at the same or something else. can I ask for any tips on how to learn them? (I'm currently using flashcards, but everything's just falling through my brain like a sieve)

Hi!

So the answer is you should learn three things at the same time: meaning, pronunciation, and how to write. Meaning and pronunciation are pretty understandable, but I think that while writing may seem less important (and as 99% of my writing in Chinese is done through typing nowadays there is an argument for that!), learning how to write characters is a great way to actually remember them! I'm going to break down the reason why and the method that I used that worked the best for me when I was having weekly vocabulary quizzes. (Unfortunately this post got super long, so the read more is necessary!)

So, since Chinese characters are made up of radicals, learning those radicals will help you not just break a character into easier to remember pieces, but also allow you to make educated guesses when you see unfamiliar characters.

Let's take 姐 (elder sister) and 妹 (younger sister). Both can be broken up into two radicals 女/且 and 女/未. The left half of both characters help give us a clue for meaning (女=woman) and the right half give us a clue for pronunciation (且qie=jie, 未 wei=mei). As you write you'll learn proper stroke order and really take note of what radicals make up characters. (Some people recommend learning radicals early, but honestly I think if you learn them as they come up you'll be fine.)

Okay methodology time. Lots of people struggle with flashcards since it's really common that you're learning the literal flashcard instead of the information on the card (brain is a little too good at pattern recognition). I talk a bit about why writing in general is just the best for memorization in this post, but basically writing on pen and paper is still the gold standard. It really engages your brain! So here's how I would utilize this:

I'd write my vocab on a white board (literally the $2 dorm memo type) with the character, pronunciation, and meaning. After I did that, I looked over it for a minute and then erased it. I'd make myself rewrite all of it to see what has stuck. Whatever sticks gets a break and I now only focus on what I forgot. I rewrite everything that I forgot, take a moment to memorize, and erase. Repeat until no words are forgotten. Now I start from the beginning and produce the whole list, including the vocabulary that has been excluded because I remembered it. It's a good way to check if the one that seemed easy to remember was just more recent in my memory. Repeat until you can produce the full list (all components!) out of order on command (To really test this I'd get a friend to read me random words, usually giving me the english since they didn't know Chinese, and I'd have to produce the character and pronunciation in Chinese). The erasing of any hints is really key here. You can do this with pen and paper, but make sure you have a blank page every time. Make sure you challenge yourself to produce the words out of order, we want to eliminate the chance that we're just remembering the pattern of words. This out of order production serves the same purpose as shuffling flashcards.

Finally, what I would've done differently is also learning some sentences so that how a word is used in context is also a part of what I'm memorizing. This can be helpful with remembering grammar patterns so you have an "example sentence" to work off of. These sentences can also be creative and memorable to again help reenforce your memory (this is the reasoning behind Duolingo's bizarre sentences, odd things are more memorable than boring things).

I'm sorry for the essay! I wanted to properly explain why learning writing is important as well as how I used it for memorization, so I hope this is thoroughly helpful! This method is definitely more interesting than standard "copy character x10/25/100" and you can really make a game of it!

新年快乐～