#salt sisters

[yea-baiyi]

say what you want about svsss but hands down the most distraught i have ever been while reading a mxtx novel is after the bing-ge extra. what do you mean he asked shen qingqiu to come with him. what do you mean “it’s not fair”. what do you mean he looked back.

[dangermousie]

A danmei lover's biased and incomplete het web novel rec list

@mercipourleslivres thanks for inspiring me!

When it comes to Chinese web novels, I mainly read danmei. I tend not to care too much for OP heroine with a hero who dotes on her for no reason as she fights with 14 year olds narratives, nor inner courtyard fights. BUT!!! There are some het web novels I like and so here is my biased and incomplete rec list. Most of these don't have OP heroines, and very little to none courtyard fights.

Before I start, my favorite het web novel authors are: Gong Xinwen, Mo Shu Bai, Peng Lai Ke, and Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. I have yet to read anything bad by them.

Anyway, rec list:

1000 Miles of Bright Moonlight - one of my ultimate favorites, this would make such an epic drama! A smart as hell heroine, a hero who is a monk and a warrior (but also terminally?) ill and such a vivid world and amazing secondary characters (heroine’s brother is possibly my favorite supporting character of all time) and so much angst and happy ending. This has an amazing romance but it’s not romance-centric if it makes sense - ML doesn’t appear for a while. But once he does, it’s worth it!

Accompanying the Phoenix - the one that just got adapted into The Legend of Shen Li, this is high adventure and cottage core and funny and tragic and powerful ML being putty in the hands of capable FL and just EVERYTHING.

Apocalypse Arrival - Gong Xinwen’s novels are made just for me. Her heroines are always powerful as fuck and rescue abused MLs. In this novel, our heroine who lives in the post-apocalyptic world, wakes up right before that apocalypse happens. She forms a survival crew and also rescues ML who has miraculous blood and has been drained of it and is now hunted after the rescue for it. SO GOOD!!!

Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script - so fucked up, so good, with monster hero who learns to love and be human and heroine who learns to love and be human (but from the other side, her tower of perfection.) Much better than the drama which I did enjoy.

The Blue Whisper - the drama was so-so, but the novel is a bona fide angst masterpiece, which really delves into what it feels like to be imprisoned or to love.

Counterattack of the Cannon Fodder Chambermaid - I remember starting this and loving the realistic feel and the heroine and wanting to stab the hero and @mercipourleslivres telling me to be patient. She was right, by the end I was on board with both the hero (who was abused and is rather autistic-coded) and the OTP. Anyway, heroine is a servant who was a concubine in the last life and got killed as part of a rich family’s harem intrigues. In this life, she just wants to keep her head down but her life gets derailed anyway. She gets sold away and eventually made a servant in the household of an exiled prince who takes a fancy to her and she endures it because what choice does she have? All she wanted was to serve out her term and become a small time merchant. This is quite realistic about lack of options for women, especially lower class women or upper class male attitudes (ML is never vicious or mean to FL but it does not initially occur to him to wonder if she fancies him or enjoys being his concubine or w/e.) It is a DELIGHTFUL slow burn tho as they grow to love each other and grow together and become one of the most wholesome cnovel couples out there.

Dandere General and His Lord - hi there, Gong Xinwen! God, I love this one. Heroine transmigrates from modern world into a brutal slave-holding world at war (think something like Warring States era.) Our heroine transmigrates into the body of a noblewoman who just hung herself. When she comes to, she discovers that woman’s twin brother was the ruler of a city poisoned by a rival claimant and the besieging army of said claimant is about to take the city and original occupant of the body and the rest of the family chose suicide as a way to avoid dishonor. Our heroine refuses, schemes with advisors to pass as the brother and rally the troops. Once the invaders are defeated, she keeps on the masquerade and rides off to one of the never-ending wars “she” is summoned to. Our hero couldn’t be farther from this. A slave and a son of a slave, he’s escaped a horrific, starving childhood during which he narrowly avoided being murdered or raped, and ended up in the army. When the story opens, he distinguished himself in battle and as a reward, he and a few of his fellow slave warriors are invited to a banquet, where they are given some alcohol and to be playthings of any nobles who want them. One of them does not survive this but ML is lucky - heroine feels terrible and so “claims” him for herself. Instead she just tends to his wounds and sends him back. She does not fancy him or anything, she is just a human being with a conscience. And the story goes from there.

Demon King's Repayment - another delicious Gong Xinwen tale with a powerful ML dedicated to capable FL. This one is a great fantasy plot (I keep imagining it as an animated series) and a sprawling cast of amazing secondaries (and secondary OTPs - there is, I swear, an OTP that is Dong Hua x Feng Jiu done thru GXW lens) to boot.

Doomed to Be Cannon Fodder - I hesitated to put this one on the list because by the end I was not keen on how misogynistic novel got to original female lead but it was one of my earliest novels and I loved it for 90% and it’s fucking hilarious at times. Heroine transmigrates as bit villainess into a novel, all she wants is not to die, but her new attitude of “pls stay away” catches the attention of her terrifying general husband. Honestly, imo still worth it.

Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir - my n1 novel on this list, smart and fierce and don’t really read this for romance because it does not start until really late, but ice cold heroine x ice cold hero both of equal brains and ruthlessness is everything. I went from loathing the ML to finding him fascinating to adoring him (and yet he softened around the edges only for FL, he never became “nice”) and loved FL throughout; secondaries are epic. If you read only one non-danmei web novel, make it this one.

The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl - my n2 novel on this list. Our heroine is the unlucky laundry maid A’Chou. She is a di daughter of an upperclass family but her family got destroyed in one of the political upheavals of the time and A’Chou, only a small child at the time, was the only survivor and was made an enslaved laundry maid. Due to various events, at the start of the novel she is a laundry maid in a minister’s household and the minister’s beloved daughter is having a fit because she’s supposed to marry the former Crown Prince which may have been great a few years back but Crown Prince had since been deposed, tortured, imprisoned and now is living in the middle of nowhere under conditions that are too meager to be called house arrest. And he’s seriously crippled too. Understandably, the young lady doesn’t want to marry him! She’d rather kill herself and so she does. And so, a desperate plan is hatched - why don’t we pretend the laundry maid is the di daughter of the minister’s household and send her off? And so A’Chu is sent as the bride. She arrives to discover a broke, seriously injured man on the verge of death…and we go from there. This is so gorgeous and tender and slow in just the right way and like AAAAAA! Secondary OTPs (one of which is MM) are also epic.

Futu Tower - the drama (Unchained Love) was a mess but the novel is such a lovely, dark exploration of coming back to life, for the ML from his dark revenge-strewn path and for heroine from not being allowed wishes of her own. She is a tribute bride, he’s a (fake) eunuch, they are both servants who use themselves to achieve goals and find peace and happiness together.

The Grand Princess - a tale where both members of the OTP reincarnate as their younger selves after killing each other in their 50s, and get a new start, this is smart and slow and so good in portraying old souls in young bodies. Their rediscovery of not just each other but themselves and their passion for living is just AAAAAA!

Heroine Saves Gentleman - Gong Xinwen novel so we have a tough martial artist lady saving a very upper class scholar and it goes from there. If elegant gorgeous ML being saved and protected (and lovingly dommed) by awesome FL is your bag, pls come right in.

Husband Be a Gentleman - schemer meet schemer. He’s an idle prince she’s perfect daughter, in reality both are wolves out for blood. Mmmm. Very OTP gets together early and is us against the world.

I’ll Be the Male Lead’s Sister in Law - one of my all time favorite novels. Heroine is made to marry a disabled nephew of the emperor. He used to be a victorious god of war but went mad and now is basically locked away and kept as a beast. GOD I LOVE THIS NOVEL SO MUCHHHHH! So much hurt/comfort and awesome OTP and after he eventually recovers, all he wants to do is to fight and murder things and dote on wifey. MMM. He’s honestly one of my fave MLs.

I Married a Disabled Tyrant After Transmigrating - if you have a Florence Nightingale complex, this is for you. Heroine wakes up as tribute bride to an almost dead dragon lord and slowly nurses him back to life as his rivals try to murder him. They are both utter adorable babies!

Let the Villain Go - another Gong Xinwen novel, this and Apocalypse Arrivals are AUs of each other. Heroine is surviving in the apocalypse, ML is the “bugbear” of the world but in reality just reacting to all abuse and torture and after she accidentally saves him, devotes himself. Fun fun fun!

Long Wind Crossing - Amazing ML and FL who grow together, clever plot, arranged marriage to love etc etc. Oh, and one point he feeds her his blood to keep her alive, what’s not to love? (Adapted into Chang Feng Du/Destined)

Lost You Forever - this is a short but delicately wistful tale of trauma and loss and love, wrapped in a high fantasy setting but so relatable despite it.

Love In Another Life: My Gentle Tyrant - so so fucked up in the best way! ML cannot live with OR without heroine. It opens on them banging in jail night before her execution (ordered by him) with corpses of men he killed for trying to defile her cooling nearby. If you want healthy relationships with respectful boundaries, gentle and considerate male leads who are modern men in period clothes, OP heroines who have everyone help them and are OP to the max, fluff and wholesomeness, that is about the worst book for you.If you want complexity, dysfunction, darkness, pain and an absolutely lyrical even if fucked up story, come right IN!!!!I am so fucking in love with the melancholy heroine, with ruthless psycho hero and the endless regret and devotion and paaaaain!

The Marquis Is Innocent - our heroine is a beautiful woman married to a warlord who hates her family. (Yes, this was gonna be The Prisoner of Beauty until SZE tax scandal.) Except she's a transmigrator from the future who knows how it ended last time around and has no interest to end up this tragically. This is in my top 5 - FL is smart but believably so (and doesn't have super battle powers) and ML is a believable period warlord. The way their relationship develops so gradually and the way his character changes so gradually as well (and the way they slowly fall in love, her slower than him) is just amazing. It is such a smart, nuanced, gorgeous slow burn. With some gonzo sex scenes :P

Mulberry Song - you like tragic endings? Come right IN! This is short and heartbreaking and wistful and very what-if.

Nightfall (Ever Night) - so long but also so smart and unusual and bloody and tho it’s not primarily a romance, you will never see another ML who loves his FL as much as Ning Que does his Sang Sang. 

Offering Salted Fish to Master - in some ways, this novel is a mess, but I am recommending it because this is a rare example of "nope he's 100% a villain and murderdude and odd, but he does love the heroine" that the author commits to.

Pihanjin - yet another awesome PLK novel, this is once again, like with Marquis, a ruthless man and a beautiful woman getting a second chance on a second go-around. FL is a lot more wounded this time around though. If you LOVE watching ML grovel and slowly, gradually win FL over, this one is for you.

Princess Agents - a dark tale with an incredibly competent and militarily powerful/ruthless heroine and two terrifying men who love her (but neither is as terrifying as she is.) There is an OTP switch halfway through that shockingly makes sense and it's just SO SO GOOOOOOOD

Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage - this is probably the one “typical” novel on this list, heroine is reborn as her youngest self and gets revenge on those who wronged her last time around. It is really really well-written and heroine is competent, hero is doting and powerful etc. It’s not a trope I tend to love but I do when it’s done THIS well.

Rebirth of the Tyrant’s Pet: Regent Prince is Too Fierce: Borgias cnovel style! Our heroine was empress in last life and put her husband on the throne tho he did not love her. However, he had her executed and had his half-brother carry out the orders and heroine died horrifically. She opens her eyes and she’s a little girl again. The OTP this time around is heroine and half-brother executioner. Why do I love it? Heroine is smart and tough but also this is a rare rebirth novel where heroine does NOT decide to seek revenge for past life wrongs because they haven’t happened yet! In fact, she sees ML abused and stands up for him because he’s a kid and no kid should be mistreated and this go around he hasn’t done anything wrong. She also gets and likes her former life husband. Anyway, this is fakecest galore because she’s supposed to be their half-sister and while she knows (from past life) she is not, they do not and fall for her anyway. ML is especially gonzo, at one point carving chunks of his flesh to save her. He’s feral and unhinged and she’s the one person he worships because she protected him and like - it’s all awesome. (I love secondary ML too.)

Reborn to Love Lord Qiansui - yes, this is a eunuch novel! If you like gender tropes reversals, this one is for you. Heroine is a tough martial artist, hero is a smart as hell and powerful eunuch. A real eunuch. Heroine finds out she owes him her life and decides to protect him. This is a total delight and an awesome love story between two really scarred people. And yes, there is sex - heroine literally reads manuals on pegging :P

Return of the Swallow - so freaking long! But really good. Heroine is neither transmigrator nor reincarnator, just a smart period woman. She is a lost family daughter taken back in. Her father is a minister in a dying empire (father-daughter relationship is one of the best things in this novel), her OTP is enemy general, and the smartness and the awesomeness of this all knows no bounds.

Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes - probably the wackiest JLFX novel I read, this is quite different from Love You Seven Times drama that was adapted from it. Our deity protagonists go through a bunch of lives figuring out they fancy each other. It's light like a souffle but just as delicious.

To Be a Virtuous Wife - some people prefer 8 treasures trousseau but I never warmed up to that one. This one is so good, with smart people (who actually enjoy sex, a ratity) and a perfect mix of plot and romance.

Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - my very first web novel. A lot lighter than a lot of the ones on this list but a total delight. Heroine transmigrates into a novel as the heroine; she has no interest in drama or chasing true love, she just wants to live a nice life with her nice husband. Too bad for her, her husband has reincarnated into his younger self and remembers how she betrayed him, so is not interested. This one is funny and light and romance doesn’t start till late on but a total delight!

Wishing You Eternal Happiness - this is tied with Dreamer as my favorite het web novel ever though it couldn’t be more different from Dreamer, with its hard-edged and hard-souled protagonists ruthlessly cleaving their way to the world and, eventually, each other, its smart cynical air. Except in one thing - the world of Wishing is just as bloody and dark. Its two protagonists are gentle, deeply wounded souls who may find salvation in each other but even something as basic as safety almost seems out of reach.

Jliafu, our heroine, is neither a modern-day transmigrator, nor some exotic princess or demoness. She is very much a period woman of her time, from a weathy merchant clan, whose beauty is her curse. You can tell the novel’s tone from that utterly bleak opening chapter where she, a favorite concubine of a capricious dying emperor, is ordered to be buried alive with him and is not even given the “grace” of white silk but slowly suffocates in the coffin, scrabbling at the lid. There is no grand threats of vengeance on her part, not dramatic opera events. Just despair and death. The whole introductory chapter is haunted by emotional ghosts - the empress’ unrequited love for the monster on the imperial bed (turning into desire for Jiafu’s suffering after he dies), the emperor slowly dying in his prime after waging too many wars, and his fear of being haunted by Pei Youan, a brilliant if sickly minister who died of illness long ago on one of imperial campaigns. There is no triumph for anyone, only loss.

When she wakes up as still a young woman, all she wants is to escape the same fate. There are no plans for power or revenge, only a desire for survival. And so she latches on asking for help from Pei Youan, the only man in her past go-around who showed any consideration and desire and ability to protect her, though he barely knew her. Pei Youan is probably my favorite het web novel ML. Despite his brains and ability, he drifts through life. In modern terms, he clearly has depression. One of the biggest, best joys of the novel is watching these two very good, very quiet, very wounded people discover happiness and love with each other. I sort of want to cry just thinking about it, tbh.

The Yandere Came During the Night - a bit of fluff that’s oddly delightful. Heroine is reborn as a (fake) sister of ML, she hurts her legs saving him and the “siblings” form a bond that ends up in fakecest delight. They are both smart and efficient and he becomes a sexy marquis etc.

[sacredwhores]

Brian De Palma - Sisters (1972)

[antispopausandstuff]

i cannot stand that Nate made it so Adora suddenly realized she was gay when Catra was about to kiss her.

if you don't know what i'm talking about, on Twitter, someone asked Nate what Adora was thinking before the kiss happened and he replied with a GIF // image ( don't remember which one ) that had the caption "am i gay?" attached.

like, look, it's one thing to have a lesbian character originally believe they like or legitimately like a guy at one point ( Amity from TOH ). in fact, i feel like we need to have more characters like that, since, to this day, so many people in and out of the community think it's black and white when it comes to being queer to any extent.

BUT!

Adora has never had this occurrence. she's never shown interest in guys, fake or otherwise, and no one else in the show seems to have this supposed 'am i gay' realization, ever.

that, and, even if she did think she was straight at one point, you can't honestly tell me she continued to think that when she was openly attracted to THREE WOMEN aside from Catra.

this is just giving shipping material that isn't necessary and adding onto the 'Adora is a dumb lesbian jock' stereotype that the fandom loves to believe is simply canon.

so, if she's attracted to other women, she doesn't know it, but when it's Catra, she suddenly starts asking herself that?

i could maybe understand it if it was because Catra was about to kiss her, meanwhile she didn't have any of that with the other women, but we all know that isn't actually why.

[cinematicjourney]

Sisters (1972) | dir. Brian De Palma

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

hey fellas, is it gay to touch someone on the shoulder?

[maxyvert]

🦇 Hexoween 5 - Sisters of the Night🦇 1 - Button eye 2 - Bloody desire and its consequences 3 - Demon shop and dark deals 4 - Sea of Monsters 6 - Ominous Children 7 - Curse of the Full Moon 8 - Secret of the Antique Talisman

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Funny how you can say " Stark sisters were acting like normal siblings" or "they are equally to blame for their poor relationship" and no one will accuse you of dismissing Arya's trauma by the bullying she endured ( even if you tag it on both sisters tags). But the moment you say " Sansa did bully Arya" everyone will start accusing you of hating Sansa despite the fact that you are merely pointing out book canon ( and also despite the fact that these posts never go to Sansa's tag).

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Sisters (Brian de Palma, 1973)

[carto0ncritter]

There's a difference between choosing to forgive your abuser (that is for the victim to decide) and choosing to be in a committed relationship with them. Just saying

[secret-spirit]

My Headcanons on the relationships between the Beasts: (mainly on Shadow Milk because i am biased)

Shadow Milk and Eternal Sugar: They are besties, Eternal would definitely contrast their Calm energy to Shadow Milk's chaoticness, Sugar definitely supervises Shadow Milk because they can keep up with them than the others, but sometimes Eternal Sugar will be like: "I woke up and chose chaos" and joins Shadow Milk in their shenanigans.

Mystic flour and Shadow Milk: Older Sister and Annoying little brother dynamic, Shadow Milk absolutely loves to taunt and annoy Mystic Flour because their reactions are priceless to them. Mystic flour just keeps up with Shadow Milks taunts and pranks and tries alot of effort in making sure it doesn't get to them (it failed, Eternal Sugar had to hold Mystic Flour back from crumbling Shadow Milk).

Eternal Sugar and Mystic Flour: the tired responsible older sisters of the group, they keep questioning why the Witches made them work with the others.

Shadow Milk and Silent Salt: Secret Crush, mainly on Shadow Milk's side. (Look they are purelily counterparts i couldn't help it they'd be so cute Energetic chaotic lover and quiet chill lover i will die for this)

Burning Spice and Shadow Milk: two idiots that share a braincell, whenever they are together you bet they are that audio: "Wanna do something foolish?" "Do you even have to ask?"

[creepynostalgy]

Margot Kidder in Sisters (1973)

[sacredwhores]

Brian De Palma - Sisters (1972)

[marinettesaltprompts]

I have another prompt for anyone who's interested:

Despite being a relationship, Marinette can't seem to let go of her crush on Adrien and her fantasies of their life together. From their three children to the numerous hamsters they'd get together. From their wedding while they wore her designs to Adrien leaving Gabriel to work for her.

It's something that puts a toll on Luka, her boyfriend. He puts all his faith and trust in her whenever she bails on him. He says she has to have her reasons. That she'll tell him when she's ready. That he can't just push her into telling him because that might make her upset. He can wait. She'll tell him. She said she would. He can wait.

But at home, Juleka can't help but see how upset he is despite him denying it. Despite the things he says more to reassure himself than to her. When Marinette bails on him for umpteenth time, she decides enough is enough and finally confronts her when they have a moment alone. She's tired of Marinette hurting her brother all over a guy who has not only shown no interest in her but is in his own relationship. And if this is the way Marinette is going to treat her brother, she can consider their friendship over.

I just want some protective sister Juleka (:

Potential sequel to this would be Purple Tigress being protective of her cat brother, Chat Noir and not liking how Ladybug keeps him out. Something she herself didn't realize until she asks Chat about why he's missed so many Akuma attacks and patrols only to learn that, 1. His civilian life often got in the way and he's been watched more closely lately so he can't get away. And 2. no one told him when the patrols were. The days he "showed up" were just the days he was lucky enough to see them and catch up. Sometimes he sees them but it's as if no one sees him. So, after numerous times of it happening, he figured, why bother?? And he stopped trying to find them, choosing to patrol alone.

It's something that further shatters her rose tinted glasses of the people she thought better of. First was Marinette and the way she treated Luka. And now there's Ladybug with the way she treats Chat Noir.

Both girls had someone who cared so deeply for them and yet the way they treated them left a sour taste in her mouth.

... I love it.

I have no other words to say, this is both equal levels of "an excellent prompt that should exist and why the hell didn't I realise that possibility sooner" and "Awwww Juleka is an adorable younger twin YOUNGER sister" (you can't keep getting away with retcons Astruc, IF THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TWINS WHY AREN'T THEY IN THE SAME SCHOOL?)

Anyways, peak prompt! Love it! Bonus points for peak Juleka content as well! Keep it up!

[bikinikillarchives]

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[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

“c//a couldn't be developed properly because there were restrictions!”

okay, but what about glimbow? they're essentially a straight-passing couple and their sexuality was only confirmed outside the show.

if the writers were really good at writing romantic relationships and the only reason c//a failed is because of restrictions, why was glimbow also so badly written and rushed?

you can say that the executives were homophobic and didn’t want c//a to become canon (though that doesn’t explain all the abuse and incestuous undertones) but you can't use that argument for glimmer and bow. especially since their bisexuality wasn't confirmed in-series.

just admit that the writers weren’t great at writing romance.

entrapdak was the only good ship in the series and even that could have been improved, especially since they did nothing with it in s5. not to mention, i’m pretty sure that entrapta was initially supposed to be a teenager and this ship would have had a lot of weird implications, if nate didn’t suddenly say that she’s in her 30s.