#so when he showed up completely chill after yi city | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lady-of-the-lotus · 3 years ago

Text

Drink, No Drink

xuexiao - M for violence - 4.9k - AO3!

In which Xiao Xingchen drunkely flirts with an oblivious Xue Yang ____________________________

They come by once a month on average, sometimes twice. Once, about eleven months after Xue Yang came to Yi City, three come at once, but that's a group and Xue Yang, always fair, counts them as one.

Still three times the fun to kill, of course.

The men step into the Coffin House courtyard at noon, just ten minutes after Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing had left to buy groceries.

Xue Yang is busy dumping fresh dirt into a raised bed. He and Xiao Xingchen have built raised beds throughout the courtyard to plant vegetables in. Xiao Xingchen had wanted flowers, but Xue Yang had vetoed the idea, flowers being useless, and the daozhang isn’t one to argue.

He looks up as the men step into the courtyard. “Who are you?”

The leader of the group, a tall, brutish-looking man with a cauliflower ear and broken nose, seems almost angry at the question. “Where is he?”

Xue Yang dusts his hands off. And here he thought he’d be bored until the daozhang returned. “Who is this ‘he’?”

“The blind cultivator in white! Xiao Xingchen! We know he lives here!”

Xue Yang taps his chin. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

The musclebound man on the right steps forward, seconds away from grabbing Xue Yang by the collar and losing a hand. “We were told there’s a blind cultivator living here!”

“Ohhh, I thought you meant the other blind cultivator in white. I lose track. What do you want from him?”

“To take a strip out of his hide!”

Xue Yang rolls his eyes. “Let me guess, you committed some crime once upon a time, and he got you in trouble for it, and now that he’s blind you want your revenge.”

“How did—”

“It’s all very original.” Xue Yang’s knife is in his hand. He tosses in the air, catching it deftly. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”

The skinny little man on the left shrugs. “Not reall—”

He never finishes his sentence. A flash of silver blade, and Xue Yang’s knife is sprouting from his eye. Shrieking, he falls backwards into a vegetable bed, yanking the knife out of his face.

Xue Yang shakes his head. “Don’t you know not to pull a knife out of a wound? Trust me on that one, I should know. Look, now you’re bleeding all over the place.” He produces a second knife and turns to face the other two men, who stand gaping at him in slack-jawed shock. “How about you two? Up for some first aid practice?”

“You—you—”

“Got any weapons? Get them out. It’s more fun that way.”

Still looking confused, the leader draws his own knife out and stands there, blinking, while the other man drops to his knees beside his companion, who’s writhing in the dirt and shrieking like a wounded fox.

Xue Yang makes a face. “Can you shut him up? He’s going to give me a headache at this rate.”

“He—he—”

Xue Yang floats over and slices the man’s tongue out with a practiced twist of his blade, but the man continues to emit bone-chilling scream from deep inside his throat.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake—” Another twist of the blade, and the man falls silent. Permanently. “You’d think he’d never been stabbed in the eyeball before.”

“You killed him—”

“Like you were going to do to the daozhang?” Xue Yang flies back over near the leader. “And for what, arresting you? You clearly escaped whatever the charges are. Grow up and let it go.”

The leader’s hand tightens on his knife. “The magistrate beat me so badly I couldn’t get honest work again as a porter—”

“Your back, your arms, your legs, what was the problem?”

“My left leg was broken so badly it—”

Xue Yang jams his heel into the man’s left kneecap, shattering it. Howling, the man collapses, knife falling from his spasming fingers. “Like I want your life’s story?” He hauls the man up by his collar and flies him over to one of the raised beds, dumping him in the dirt. Dislocates the man’s shoulder, just to be safe, and nicks the side of the man’s throat so that he bleed out into the soil.

Best kind of fertilizer, or so he’d been given to believe.

Then he turns to the third man, who’s cowering on his knees, forehead pressed to the dirt. “How about you? Going to put up more of a fight, I hope? I mean, what were you three arrested for, anyway? Couldn’t have been anything requiring actual fighting skills. Tax fraud?”

“Forgive me—forgive me—I won’t harm Xiao Xingchen! I swear I’ll leave here, I’ll never speak of this—”

“A bit late for that, I’d think.” Xue Yang tilts his head down at him. He likes seeing the man grovel. Kowtow, really. A trembling heap of peasant clothes and greasy hair, not half as good as if it had been the daozhang or one of the self-righteous cultivators who’d dogged him half his life, but it still fills him with heady tingling pleasure. “You should never have come here.”

“It wasn’t my idea—I swear it wasn’t!”

“Great, a spineless lackey. Even better. Now, the question is how to kill you.” He crouches before the man, patting his trembling cheek with his knife while he thinks. “I usually go for something more creative, but we need to wrap this up before the daozhang gets home, and more than two beds needs fertilizing, so here we go.”

The man makes a feeble effort to resist, taking an easily-dodged swing at Xue Yang's jaw. A flick of his hand, and Xue Yang’s knife is suddenly plunged deep into the man’s throat. Grabbing him by the hair, he hauls the man into the neighboring vegetable bed and gives the knife an experimental jiggle, then wiggles it a bit farther up his throat. A delicate balance, this—he needs the man alive to pump out as much blood as possible, but can't resist playing with him a bit. Of course Xue Yang could always rip out his intestines and bury them in the dirt, but that would be messy, and Xue Yang hasn't time to clean up.

A sigh, and the man bleeding out from his eye socket expires.

Xue Yang hesitates, then removes his outer robes and flies the man over the back wall of the courtyard, dumping him in the forest outside the city.

The second man has died by the time he returns. Xue Yang flies him out, then the third man when he too dies.

He stands beneath the trees, eying his handiwork.

Not a bad day’s work.

If only the daozhang knew that Xue Yang, his worst enemy, had been saving his life for the past eleven months. Knew how deeply indebted he is to the delinquent from Kuizhou.

But the daozhang can’t know.

Not just yet.

He’d probably make me stop, Xue Yang thinks, no matter what the personal risk. He’d insist on arresting all these opportunistic degenerates and bringing them to justice, as if such a thing exists.

The idiot. Xue Yang finds himself smiling at the thought. The sanctimonious idiot, blind in more ways than one. For all Xue Yang knows, he might even hear the men out—“Oh, your leg was broken? The scoundrels!” and embark on a journey to track down the magistrate who’d wronged the criminal degenerates—

A vulture approaches, drawn by the scent of blood, startling Xue Yang out of his thoughts.

“Wait your turn,” he tells the bird. “It’s first come, first serve around here.” Chuckles to himself—too bad the daozhang is completely unsuited for the day’s activities. He knows Xiao Xingchen would have appreciated the afternoon’s humor—maybe even relished the irony of watching Xue Yang, the man who was going to one day kill the daozhang, protect him—

Well, perhaps not that. But he could have gotten a few laughs, at least.

Xue Yang cuts a lock of hair from each of the men, just as he has for the last thirteen criminals who’d come after Xiao Xingchen, removes their tongues, and flies back over the wall.

He can take care of the bodies later, if the vultures don’t handle them for him.

He places the tongues in jars he sets inside a coffin painted with preservation sigils. Then, grabbing a rake, he begins mixing the blood-soaked earth, evenly dividing it among the dozen raised beds that take up half the courtyard and patting the soil down in preparation for tomorrow’s sowing. He’s just finishing up when Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing return.

The first thing out of the daozhang’s mouth is, “What’s that smell?”

“What smell?”

“Smells like blood,” says A-Qing, who can always be counted on to say the wrong thing.

Xue Yang fights the urge to tell the daozhang the truth, see the look on his face. “I got bored without you, and went for a walk in the woods, and found a fierce corpse.”

Xiao Xingchen’s face softens at the words without you. Xue Yang is still at a loss to explain how readily Xiao Xingchen displays his feelings. Surely letting another person know that you value their companionship is a dangerous show of weakness?

Xue Yang has learned to reveal nothing that can be used against him in the future.

What Chengmei says to the daozhang is different. His esteem for the blind white fool is all an act, and there is no way a lie might harm him.

“I have the beds all ready for planting,” he tells Xiao Xingchen.

Xiao Xingchen moves towards him as A-Qing runs inside with the groceries. “Were you wounded?”

“By what, tripping and falling on the rake?”

“The blood smells fresh. Did the fierce corpse manage to hurt you? That’s unlike you, Chengmei.” He lays a hand on Xue Yang’s chest, eyebrows rising slightly at the feel of Xue Yang’s thin, silky inner robe beneath his hand instead of his textured outer robes. “I know you, Chengmei. You wouldn’t tell me you were hurt, even if you were.” Slowly, he runs his hands over Xue Yang’s chest, pats his arms, feels his waist.

Xue Yang swallows hard, freezing.

From the touching, he tells himself. Not from the display of concern. It’s hard not to tense up when touched, given how often past touch has been something bad.

Truly it means nothing, the daozhang’s concern. Xue Yang knows this. Has always known it.

What good is the compassion of a man who only cares because he doesn’t know the truth?

Xiao Xingchen rests his hand briefly on his hip, but seems unwilling to go any lower and check Xue Yang’s legs. “You’d tell me if you were hurt, right?”

Xue Yang’s heart is pounding. “….I wouldn’t lie to you…”

“I know you wouldn’t.” Seeming to realize how close they're standing, Xiao Xingchen moves away. “I’ll go help A-Qing make dinner. We'll keep the seeds from tonight’s vegetables, we can plant tomorrow…”

Xue Yang slips his outer robes back on but doesn’t head back into the house. He’s cursing himself for having lost his composure for even a second, especially in front of Xiao Xingchen, of all people.

It’s not like he noticed. You sounded normal, and he’s blind, for fuck’s sake.

The reddish gold sun has sunk beneath the courtyard walls when Xiao Xingchen comes out onto the porch. He looks blue in the twilight, slender and beautiful and somehow soft despite the boniness of his long slim body.

“Chengmei? Dinner’s ready.”

Hesitating, though he’s not sure why, Xue Yang heads inside. Xiao Xingchen hands out the bowls and chopsticks while A-Qing serves.

Xue Yang is silent during dinner, mechanically shoveling rice into his mouth.

Xiao Xingchen does most of the talking, as if sensing Xue Yang is in a strange mood. He talks about the past, places he’s seen, people he’s met. He’s a poor storyteller, with a laughable memory of details, but his tendency to ramble from one story to the next without finishing any of them is amusing in its own way, and A-Qing's interjections of her own more colorful experiences keep any heavy silence at bay.

After the meal, Xue Yang removes Xiao Xingchen’s horsetail whisk from where he keeps it on a shelf in the corner.

“Just combing it,” he says when A-Qing, who has even better hearing than the daozhang and an uncanny knack for getting in his way, asks him what the hell he thinks he’s doing. “It’s getting tangled.”

“Tangled. Right.”

Normally Xue Yang would bicker back, but he doesn’t have the energy tonight. He sits on the steps, the horsetail whisk in his lap, while A-Qing lies on a blanket, staring up at the dazzling carpet of stars as if she can see, and Xiao Xingchen polishes his sword beside him.

Xue Yang knots the locks of hair he’d taken from the three convicts into the flowing mane of the whisk, streaks of black staining the pure white.

A little ritual he’d developed after the first would-be murderer had come to Yi City. Watching the daozhang parade around with a murder trophy tucked under thin white arm was endlessly entertaining.

Now…

It’s still a good joke, Xue Yang tells himself. Still good fun to see the streaks of black against the white. But it’s become a symbol of something else, now, too.

Of what, Xue Yang isn’t entirely sure.

But of something.

The eggplant is starting to sprout when, five weeks later, another convict comes to the Coffin House searching for Xiao Xingchen.

Xiao Xingchen is inside the house making dinner with A-Qing. Xue Yang had just stepped outside to fetch more water when he sees a shadow detach itself from behind a coffin and slither across the courtyard, a flash of silver in its hand.

Jiangzai is out before Xue Yang can even think.

Footsteps.

Xue Yang flies across the courtyard and grabs the shadow by the throat. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“Xiao Xing—”

Xue Yang cuts his throat before the man can finish, flying him over the wall before so much as a drop of blood can splash onto the stones of the courtyard.

A shame to waste the fertilizer on the trees of the forest, but Xiao Xingchen is expecting him back any second now.

He’ll fetch the tongue later.

“Thank you, Chengmei,” Xiao Xingchen says when he returns, accepting the bucket of water. “Do you mind chopping the potatoes? The oil should be hot enough any minute now.”

“Fried potato? Not boiled? Do my ears deceive me?” His pulse is reverberating through his skull, so that’s very possible. The quickness of the kill had done nothing to diminish the euphoria that always accompanies it. If anything, it had heightened it, a half-hour’s torture compressed into an intense dose of power and pleasure and blood.

“I figured I would fry it, as a treat. It’s been a year since…well, it’s been a year since we all came to the Coffin House.” Xiao Xingchen turns to the stove, blushing slightly, as if almost ashamed to have kept track of the anniversary, as if he doesn’t think it's as important to Xue Yang as it is to him.

Xue Yang doesn’t speak. A-Qing is glancing at the floor, looking uncharacteristically solemn.

“I know it’s foolish—” Xiao Xingchen begins again, but Xue Yang shakes his head, forgetting for a moment that he can’t see him.

“It’s never foolish to fry potatoes,” he says emphatically. “That boiled stuff is for the dogs. Anything else?”

Xiao Xingchen smiles. “I bought nian gao at the market today.”

“Now you have my attention.” He slices the potatoes swiftly, hand shaking slightly. Lingering euphoria from his recent kill, most likely. “The sweet cake kind, right? Not that vegetable stuff.”

Xiao Xingchen affects chagrin. “Do you take me for an amateur?”

Xue Yang discovers that he’s grinning.

Still from the murder, no doubt. It’s been a while since he’d killed anything larger than the rats that sneak into the Coffin House.

It’s not that he needs to kill. Enjoys it, yes. Who wouldn’t enjoy holding complete and utter power over another human being? Being the most important thing in their world, if only for those final moments? The pleasant exercise of the fight, the witty banter, the desperation in the victim’s eyes as they bleed out?

But, if he’s being entirely honest, he hasn’t thought about it much these past few weeks.

A-Qing turns in early that night, having eaten too much fried food and nian gao, leaving Xiao Xingchen and Xue Yang alone on the porch. Xue Yang plays with the dead man’s hair in the horsetail whisk while Xiao Xingchen sits beside him, just a little too close, knee almost touching his, having misjudged the distance. It’s odd, how the daozhang can spin through the forest to sever a fierce corpse’s throat without disturbing a single leaf or blade of grass, but he’s rather clumsy around Xue Yang, stumbling into him at times, brushing his hand with his while handing him something, mistakenly letting his shoulder touch his as he passes.

“I have a surprise,” says Xiao Xingchen.

“We’re getting a puppy.”

“We can, if you want."

“Just joking.” Briefly, Xue Yang wonders what a dog would make of the corpses popping up around the Coffin House.

Well, it would be one way to dispose of the bodies, and save on buying dog food.

He grins to himself at the idea. It's a real shame he can’t share some of his best thoughts with Xiao Xingchen.

Who’s tilting his head at him expectantly. “Chengmei?”

“You’re buying us a new house. A-Qing found a husband. We have an invitation to Jinlintai.”

Xiao Xingchen smiles. “I feel quite inadequate, now. I bought some of this.” He draws two wine jars from his sleeve. “Or rather, traded some protection talismans for it with the local weaver.”

“Is the daozhang a secret wino?” Xue Yang accepts the small white jar. He’s not one for drinking, but he can’t turn Xiao Xingchen down. “Is that what you’re really doing during your private meditation sessions?”

Instead of being offended, Xiao Xingchen smiles. “Given how many great poets were drunks—going by their poetry—I could do well to follow their example.

‘Life in the world is but a big dream;

I will not spoil it by any labor or care.

So saying, I was drunk all the day,

Lying helpless at the porch in front of my door—’ ”

“A tripping hazard for A-Qing.”

“ ‘When I awoke, I blinked at the garden-lawn;

A lonely bird was singing amid the flowers.

I asked myself,

Had the day been wet or fine? ’ ”

Xue Yang struggles to keep a straight face despite the fact that Xaio Xingcheng can’t see him. “Baoshan Sanren teaches cultivating by way of winemaking? No wonder she has to hide on her mountain. Every cultivator for miles around would be trying to sign on with her.”

Xiao Xingchen laughs. “Given how many classic poems are about drinking wine, I wouldn’t be surprised if such a thing existed...at least the poems in Shifu’s collection. She didn’t focus much on classical poetry.” He pulls the stopper from his jar, sniffing it. “So…I just…drink it? Is there some kind of…I don’t know…”

“A wine-drinking ritual? Like you walk in a circle three times, flapping your arms—”

“…do you think we can forgo it, just this once?”

Xue Yang is the one to laugh this time, though he’s not sure if Xiao Xingchen is joking. “You just drink, from what I’ve seen.”

“From what you’ve seen?”

“I don’t drink.” He instantly regrets his words at the look on Xiao Xingchen’s face. “I mean…”

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t want to make—”

“I mean—” And suddenly he hears himself saying, “I could never afford to be…impaired in any way. For…my own safety, I mean. I was just never…look, it’s…” And then, just as suddenly, he’s uncorking his jar and taking a deep draft.

It burns unpleasantly in his throat, but it’s worth it for the smile on Xiao Xingchen’s face at the silent admission that he feels safe here.

That Chengemi does, at any rate.

“How does it taste?”

“Good, I think,”Xue Yang lies.

Xiao Xingchen sips delicately at his jar, then wrinkles his nose. “The poems made me think it would be a lot more like drinking moonbeams and lotus blossoms.”

“More poems about passing out on the lawn?” Xue Yang asks. Poetry is just as useless as he’s always imagined it to be, but it sounds nice coming from Xiao Xingchen. Melodic. Kind of like singing...

...Must be the wine, that idiotic thought.

" 'A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;

I drink alone, for no friend is near.

Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,

For he, with my shadow, will make three men.’ ”

Xue Yang frowns slightly. “I’m sitting right here, daozhang.”

Xiao Xingchen smiles. “So you are.”

Xue Yang shakes his momentary pique away. “Four men, then. Five, counting my shadow. You know, I don’t think those poets knew what the hell they were talking about, like with anything.”

“That’s not true…well, not entirely…there are some very pretty poems about nature…”

“How about a drinking game: I say something untrue, and if you correctly guess that it’s a lie, then I have to drink.”

“Alright.” By Xiao Xingchen’s amused smile, it’s clear he doesn’t think Xue Yang can successfully lie to him.

“I’m ugly. Hideous. Ladies pull their skirts away from me in the street and I frighten children and old people.”

Xiao Xingchen laughs, misjudging the distance between them again and touching his arm by mistake. “Not going by what I’ve heard.”

Smirking, Xue Yang takes a drink. “Your turn.”

“I…I have two heads.”

Xue Yang rolls his eyes. “That the best you can do?”

“I’m not accustomed to falsehoods!”

The pretentious way he put that should have made Xue Yang roll his eyes again, but the strong wine has mellowed him. “Drink. I hate candy.”

“Drink!”

“See, it’s not fun if it’s something too obvious.”

“Fine. I want that puppy you mentioned.”

“…drink?”

Xiao Xingchen raises his jar. “No drink! I wouldn't mind a puppy."

“You seem more like a cat person.”

“I like all animals. Would you rather a cat? You seem like a cat person. Like…” Xiao Xingchen hesitates. “Takes a while to warm up, independent, but loyal once you know you can tru…” He trails off, as if sensing he’s gone too far.

Biting his lip, Xue Yang looks out over the beds of budding vegetables, silver in the starlight. He’s never imagined anyone examining him in any way other than to evaluate him as a threat. Certainly not to comment on any traits in a tone Xue Yang tells himself is definitely not one of fondness, no matter how much it sounds that way. “Well, I have always liked cats better.”

“My favorite food is congee.”

“No drink, for reasons I’ll never understand.”

“You can add anything to it, and you have a nice warm meal!”

Xue Yang shakes his head. “I killed a man today for trespassing.”

“Oh, that’s terrible, Chengmei! Drink….”

It’s late when Xiao Xingchen's wine jars are empty. He'd had another two tucked away in his long white sleeve, and grown melancholy as the night wore on.

“I did everything I could to ruin my friend’s life,” he says, raising the last of his wine to the moon.

Xue Yang glances at him sharply. He’s kept his head better than Xiao Xingchen, only pretending to drink most of the time. “You what?”

“Song Lan. Zichen. The destruction of his temple was all my fault…” Head drooping, he slides sideways, cheek resting on Xue Yang’s shoulder. “All my fault, his eyes, all me…”

Xue Yang sits very still. Xiao Xingchen is warm against him, his breath soft on his neck. Then, very delicately, he pries Xiao Xingchen’s fingers from the wine jar and sets it beside them on the step.

“That was not your fault,” he says, and feels a thrill at his own words, because of course it was Xiao Xingchen’s fault, it was all his fault, and one day Xue Yang will get to throw it all in his face—

But not tonight.

“You did more than most would,” he says instead. “You gave him your eyes.” And he took them, the fucker! he wants to add. You do-gooding moron, mutilating yourself in service of that plodding lump of self-righteousness—

“My fault, my fault…”

“For what, doing your duty?” Xue Yang’s throat is beginning to tighten. He’s not sure why Xiao Xingchen would be telling him something so personal. For all his friendly, open nature, Xiao Xingchen is guarded when it comes to anything too revealing, to the point that Xue Yang sometimes feels as if he only half knows him. “You’re not responsible for that madman’s actions.”

Xiao Xingchen moves slightly, eyelashes brushing Xue Yang’s throat. “You really think so?”

“I know so,” says Xue Yang, and then, mentally, Drink!

And suddenly Xiao Xingchen is all smiles again, straightening up. “You always know just what to say to cheer me up. You—you wouldn’t leave me like Zichen did, would you? Not even if…I…” He hiccups. “I’d…I’d miss you too much…”

“Drink,” Xue Yang says automatically.

“No drink.”

Xue Yang glances away. Xiao Xingchen chooses this moment to pitch forward, to be caught by Xue Yang moments before he sprawls forward onto the stairs.

“I might be a little tipsy,” he mumbles into the hollow of Xue Yang’s throat.

Xue Yang tightens his grip. It feels…it feels wrong to be holding a person that isn’t a corpse.

A warm, living person, who seems to want to be in his arms.

Not hate being there, at least.

Or so he thinks. Xue Yang has never embraced another person before and isn’t quite sure how people are supposed to behave. Surely Xiao Xingchen would have pushed him away if he found his touch detestable—?

“You really can’t hold your liquor, can you,” he says before he can think into it too much. Gently, he scoops up Xiao Xingchen and half-carries him into the house. He weighs almost nothing, and Xue Yang thinks, I should get him to eat more, then chases the ridiculous thought away and bleaches the spot it had rested.

Xiao Xingchen grips the front of his robe as Xue Yang lays him down on the Coffin House's single bed. “Stay with me. Talk to me.”

Xue Yang hesitates, glancing over at his coffin in the corner of the room. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Xiao Xingchen almost pouts. Drunk daozhang is a petulant daozhang, it seems. “Just for a little while.”

The feeling of wrongness increases as Xue Yang crawls into bed beside Xiao Xingchen, keeping on top of the covers.

It shouldn’t be like this.

It’s not as if he hasn’t pictured sharing a bed with the daozhang. Who wouldn’t, if they had only a claustrophobic coffin to sleep in? But he’s never imagined an inebriated Xiao Xingchen curling into him, picking up his good hand, playing with it. Tracing the scars, running his fingertip between his fingers, brushing the palm with his thumb.

Soft, harmless touch that makes Xue Yang freeze, every nerve in his body screaming at him to snatch up Jiangzai.

“You have nice hands,” says Xiao Xingchen, voice thick with alcohol, almost giddy, and Xue Yang, focusing on the familiar voice, feels himself relaxing.

He’s safe, here. Safe with the daozhang.

The daozhang would never hurt Chengmei. And Xue Yang is Chengmei, for now.

The daozhang cares about Chengmei.

And in turn—

And in turn, the daozhang belongs to him.

Xiao Xingchen, the man who despises Xue Yang more than anyone else, now owes him more than he can ever repay in a single lifetime. He has saved Xiao Xingchen’s life a dozen times over without him having so much as suspected his life was ever in danger.

True, Chengmei could have killed the unsuspecting daozhang hundreds of times over the past year.

But this is different somehow.

Better.

Xue Yang is the guardian of the man he hates most in this world. Has held his life in the palm of his hand and chosen not only to let him live, but to actively destroy his enemies.

A delicious perversion of what he knows will come on the day he tears off his mask and reveals everything to Xiao Xingchen.

Finally takes his life, after preserving it for so long.

Xiao Xingchen rolls over, soft black hair in Xue Yang’s face, still holding Xue Yang’s hand in his.

Xue Yang wonders what Xiao Xingchen will say in the morning. If he’ll be embarrassed or realize that this was all simply the wine. If Xue Yang should pretend to have been too drunk to remember, or if he should say something, maybe crawl under the covers tomorrow night before Xiao Xingchen gets into bed, see what happens…

The bed is far more comfortable than the coffin, after all.

Will be warmer in winter, too…

He winces at the thought. He should go back to his coffin, stop whatever this is.

"You don't really want me here," he says.

“Drink,” Xiao Xingchen mumbles, and drops off into slumber.

Xue Yang takes a deep breath. He wants to free his hand but is afraid of waking the daozhang. As if sensing this even in sleep, Xiao Xingchen tightens his grip on his hand.

Xue Yang stares up at the ceiling, mind settling, the last of his tension fading.

He thinks he’ll go into town tomorrow and buy some flower seeds.

_______________________

thanks for reading! Spare a reblog? AO3

#mdzsnet #theuntameddaily #fytheuntamed #drink no drink #xuexiao #xue yang #xiao xingchen #a-qing #yi city #lotus writes #aside for the violence this is basically G rated

69 notes · View notes

songofclarity · 4 years ago

Text

Something that is so rarely talked about but is actually very good is that Xiao XingChen and Nie MingJue are basically cut from the same cloth. They were allies! At one point they stood side-by-side and sealed their tragic fates over the same cause.

Xiao XingChen, not Nie MingJue, was the first person to press the Jin Sect to severely punish Xue Yang for what happened to the Chang Clan. No one at the time knew that Xue Yang, a guest cultivator of the Jin Sect, was their secret Demonic Cultivation mastermind and Stygian Tiger Seal repairman. Wei WuXian was dead and the Jin Sect were still trying to rise up to be as the Wen Sect once were, but now this famous young cultivator who is still nonetheless an outsider is trying to make them cut off their own right hand.

Please just imagine Xiao XingChen standing in the main hall at Jinling Tower. He has receipts in his hands of all of Xue Yang’s crimes. Xue Yang, as Xiao XingChen’s prisoner, is probably sitting there wrapped in ropes and chains, but looks like he hasn’t a care in the world. It’s a Discussion Conference so all the powerful and prestigious people are there--except one. Everyone is nodding in agreement that yes, Xiao XingChen has brought excellent evidence! They have no objection to Xue Yang being executed.

But while no one objects to executing Xue Yang, no one else present is supporting execution, either, because Jin GuangShan isn’t supporting it. So Xiao XingChen can talk everyone’s ears off but it’s not going to change anything. The Jin Sect don’t care about justice. Xiao XingChen might be famous but he’s still an outsider. He’s powerless here. But he still doesn’t back down! A stalemate ensues and he still doesn’t back down!

And then the doors bust open and the light shines through and--Nie MingJue has arrived! Nie MingJue who was chilling at home until he got news of the complete and utter fuckery going on. He is the one and only person to give Xiao XingChen actual support because you know what? Xiao XingChen is right! The receipts are right there! And Nie MingJue doesn’t have the patience of Xiao XingChen to let the Jin Sect hem and haw over what to do to a now red-handed mass murderer.

Neither Xiao XingChen nor Nie MingJue have anything to gain from causing this scene, but it’s the right thing to do, so they do it.

"Taking advantage of the Discussion Conference that was happening at the Jinling Tower of the Lanling Jin Sect's residence, when the most prominent sects met up and discussed cultivation methods, Xiao XingChen brought [Xue Yang] over, explained the situation, and demanded severe punishment.

"With his straightforward list of evidence, most sects didn't have any objections, except for one--the Lanling Jin Sect. (ch. 30, ERS)

...

Although the Lanling Jin Sect was determined on protecting Xue Yang, Xiao XingChen didn't waver either. As the stalemate continued, they finally startled ChiFeng-Zun, Nie MingJue, who didn't intend on participating in the Discussion Conference. He hurried over to Jinling Tower from far away." (ch. 30, ERS)

Nie MingJue, who was minding his own business, is the one who breaks the stalemate. On a side note, it’s interesting how Nie MingJue didn’t even attend this Discussion Conference, which are usually sizeable affairs with many leaders present. We know that Nie MingJue does not usually stick his nose in where it doesn’t belong. Although he once called for the punishment of the Wen remnants after the Sunshot Campaign, he never followed through until Wen Ning killed Nie cultivators at Jinling Tower (wow, that must have been really convenient for the Jin Sect who wanted all the other sects to rally with them again Wei WuXian! Not suspicious at all. Having a secret demonic cultivator who could have taken control of Wen Ning on staff is quite a perk.) By all means, Nie MingJue has had enough of death and war, and he wants to focus on his mental health and home.

But it’s hard for Nie MingJue to stay out of a problem when Xiao XingChen has the evidence against a mass murderer who should rightfully be severely punished.

"Ever since Xue Yang was brought to Jinling Tower by Xiao XingChen, he hadn't been scared at all. Even when Nie MingJue's saber was pressed against his neck, he still had a grin on his face."

It’s easy to be confident when Xue Yang knows he’s untouchable, and he’s untouchable because he knows the Jin will do everything in their power to protect him.

Nie MingJue ends the stalemate by 1. giving Jin GuangShan an angry lecture (FINALLY someone stands up against Jin GuangShan!) and 2. scolding Jin GuangYao into silence for trying to calm everyone down (because Jin GuangYao only cares about appearances and not content).

"In the end, the Lanling Jin Sect could only give in."

So Xiao XingChen's efforts and evidence were good, everyone agreed they were good, but everyone was going to ignore him until Nie MingJue tackled the problem from another angle. Although Jin GuangShan and Jin GuangYao are lying about giving in, at the moment, Xiao XingChen and Nie MingJue get to part as unlikely allies.

Keep in mind this is the first and only time Nie MingJue goes against the Jin Sect directly. Nie MingJue had been the only person against the establishment of the Chief Cultivator position, but that situation never got heated. The Nie Sect is, however, the one sect that has been the greatest threat to Jin Sect domination since the Sunshot Campaign ended. So by Nie MingJue finally standing his ground here and now in a very public fashion by showing that the Jin are not allowed to do whatever they selfishly want, the Jin Sect is feeling very uneasy in their world domination plans.

But the matter is now publicly settled with the confirmation of Xue Yang’s upcoming execution. Xiao XingChen goes back into the world to be the best Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze he can be. Nie MingJue goes back home to mind his own business. (Remember how he wasn't even going to attend the conference! He wasn’t even acting like a public figure, throwing his weight around, until Xiao XingChen needed a heavy hitter on his team!) So whenit’s revealed that the Jin Sect lied, only one of them hears the news.

"The Lanling Jin Sect was indeed the sect with the thickest face. Although, on Jinling Tower, it promised in front of all the sects that Xue Yang would be executed, when it left Nie MIngJue's sight, it immediately shut Xue Yang into the dungeons and changed the original decision to a life sentence."

Who is left to continue fighting this battle on Xiao XingChen's behalf but Nie MingJue, the one person who actually agreed with him?

Xiao XingChen and Nie MingJue are literally hand-in-hand when it comes to justice. Nie MingJue uses his position as a Sect Leader of equal standing to Jin GuangShan to try to hold the Jin Sect responsible--and to keep the Jin from acting like the Wen Sect before them.

"Hearing about the matter, Nie MingJue was enranged and pressed on them again. The Lanling Jin rambled about, refusing to give him Xue Yang no matter how hard he tried. All of the other sects watched them from the sidelines, but, shortly afterward, Nie MingJue passed away from a qi deviation."

A qi deviation! Wow, what a coincidence, huh?? That sure made this rock and a hard place that Xiao XingChen and Nie MingJue pushed the Jin into go away real fast! Jin GuangYao says during the stair scene that he doesn’t want to lose his status and position, and that he is willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone else in order to prioritize his own standing. Nie MingJue insulted Jin GuangYao on a personal level, but the real issue is that he was continuing to press the Jin Sect to execute Xue Yang, which would mean the whole Jin Sect would lose their upper hand.

Nie MingJue's last public act was upholding justice and holding the Jin Sect accountable. The Jin Sect wanted to be in charge of everything as the Chief Cultivator but were doing a piss poor job at it already. He only approached Jin GuangYao when he was getting nowhere with Jin GuangShan, because wasn't Jin GuangYao supposed to be a good person? Wasn’t he supposed to have spied for them because he believed in their cause and not just the glory? Wasn’t he supposed to have murdered Nie MingJue's men because he wanted to save Nie MingJue's life and not just profit off of having Nie MingJue owe him something like sworn brotherhood to make up for the debt?

And Nie MingJue was murdered to protect the life of a murderer. With Nie MingJue gone and Xiao XingChen away, no one else cared to pay attention.

The Jin Sect broke their promise and good people paid with their lives over it. The watchtowers were a mockery of justice when Jin GuangYao, finally in control as Sect Leader and Chief Cultivator, was the one who set Xue Yang free once more.

And Song Lan lost his eyes, his temple, and his closest companion to that known murderer.

And Xiao XingChen committed suicide over being manipulated by that murderer.

But at one point Xiao XingChen and Nie MingJue stood side-by-side against a blatant evil. An evil that they have receipts for! But just as Wei WuXian on his own was not enough, Xiao XingChen and Nie MingJue as two were not enough. The mystery of Nie MingJue’s decapitated fierce corpse and the horrors found in Yi City, however, are directly connected.

The tragedy of two good men.

#i actually wrote this way back on xxc's birthday #i still have a lot of feelings about this though!#i never see xxc and nmj ever talked about together #and like #their alliance says so much about them both #and it says they were both very good men who deserved better #nie mingjue #xiao xingchen #mdzs thoughts

255 notes · View notes

wildmagicplant · 4 years ago

Text

Lan Jingyi doesn't know what he's going to do. He knows he's not a sect heir or a first disciple or the best student in the Cloud Recesses, but he is a perfectly capable cultivator. He has led a night hunt, he has accompanied Wei-qianbei on essential journeys for Hanguang-jun, and he can beat Jin Ling six times out of ten when they spar. So, the sensation he feels now—complete helplessness—has been unfamiliar to him for a long time.

It's the middle of the night. For all that Lan Jingyi has a tendency to stretch or ignore certain of the Lan rules, he generally keeps the proper hours by habit. Everything is unfamiliar under the clouded dark sky, the paths that Lan Jingyi can walk with his eyes closed suddenly new and strange. He had woken, and he hadn't known why for a moment. But then he heard something outside, the noise of someone walking none too carefully down the paths, and Lan Jingyi was curious by nature and untrusting by recent experience, and so he threw on an outer robe and slipped out of his rooms.

There had been a person in dark robes striding between the buildings, and for a second, Lan Jingyi thought it was Wei-qianbei, but that thought passed quickly. This person was stiffer in bearing and seemed unfamiliar with the Cloud Recesses. They were also carrying a sword, unsheathed and at the ready. Lan Jingyi had not thought to grab his own sword when he followed the noise. He'd been expecting a young disciple sneaking around, or maybe someone returning from a night hunt, or even someone taking a walk to find peace from troubling dreams. How did this person get through the wards?

Lan Jingyi had followed the intruder silently, hoping that he could figure out where they were headed, or maybe even come up with a plan to stop them. They had made it nearly all the way across the Cloud Recesses, and Lan Jingyi still hadn't thought of anything, the fear of what they might do and the determination not to let them get away keeping him moving regardless. Suddenly, the figure had paused, looking around. Before Lan Jingyi could panic, they'd turned decisively down the small path between two of the buildings, and Lan Jingyi had waited a moment before darting after them.

The intruder had been waiting for him, and now here he is, a sword pointed at his throat as an unfamiliar woman stares coldly at him.

"What do you want?" Lan Jingyi asks. Maybe he can keep her talking long enough that someone will notice them. Then again, who would be awake to hear?

The expression on the woman's face doesn't change. "I want a lot of things, little Lan," she says. "Right now, I want to know how you found me, and then maybe, if you're cooperative, you can lead me where I want to go."

His first instinct is to laugh at her, but he manages to restrain himself. Lan Jingyi has no interest in dying, and he's fairly certain that is exactly what laughing right now would lead to. He can't completely help himself, though, and he says, "If you'd come in the daytime, there would be plenty of people who could show you to where you wished."

"Well, I'm here now," she says brusquely. "How did you find me?"

Should he try to bluff? Give the impression that others might also find her? It depends on how much she knows of the Lan sect, probably. She seems to be looking for something, and she knew a way in, which suggests at least knowledge of the basic workings of the Cloud Recesses. She also clearly doesn't know where she's going, so it's doubtful she's ever been here before.

"I heard you," Lan Jingyi says, and waits to see how she takes it.

The woman only raises an eyebrow. "I thought all you Lans were supposed to be asleep now," she says.

She hasn't tried to kill him yet, so Lan Jingyi lets himself relax ever so slightly. "I'm a light sleeper," he says, with a little of his usual cheer.

It doesn't seem to deter her. "Will anyone else come sneaking after me?"

Lan Jingyi shrugs. He has honestly no idea. The woman's eyes narrow.

"Well, in that case, why don't you lead me to my destination, and then I can be gone before any other light sleepers hear me."

"Where are you trying to go?" he asks.

The woman smiles for the first time, and a chill runs down Lan Jingyi's spine. It reminds him of Yi City. "The library, little Lan."

He had wondered if that was her goal. There isn't much that someone would have heard of to steal from the Cloud Recesses that wasn't in the library. At least she isn't here to kill someone, which Lan Jingyi had also wondered about. He doesn't want to know what she's looking for, or what she'll do once she reaches the library.

"I'm sure I could give you directions and then be on my way," he says, mind racing. How can he get backup? Sizhui is away, traveling, and the Jingshi is too far away to reach in time. They are in a section of the Cloud Recesses mostly populated by buildings used during the day, so reaching anywhere with other people will be difficult. If he had his sword he'd fly, but if he had his sword, he could fight her, too.

Shaking her head, she says, "And let you run off for help? No, you'll lead me yourself," and lunges. She's quick, and Lan Jingyi doesn't have a chance to do anything besides yelp before the woman is behind him, her sword held across his throat. "Go on," she says in his ear. "Take me to the library. And if you make any more noise, I'll cut out your tongue."

Fuck. Lan Jingyi starts walking toward the library, trying desperately to find a way out of this. Maybe once they're at the library, he can get away from her? But what if she's not trying to steal from them, what if she wants to destroy the library? He can't take that chance, can he?

Before Lan Jingyi can start to formulate a plan, someone speaks from behind them.

"Let him go."

The woman spins, keeping her sword at Lan Jingyi's throat and her other hand at his back, and she isn't careful about it. The sword cuts into the side of his neck. It doesn't hurt much, he's had worse, but he can feel blood start to well up.

At first, Lan Jingyi thinks it's Hanguang-jun who'd spoken, having heard the low, forceful voice. He sees a tall figure in white, the bright gleam of a sword, an imposing shape in the night. How could he have gotten here so quickly, Lan Jingyi thinks, the Jingshi isn't anywhere near here. And then his eyes pick out a few more details, and he thinks he can be forgiven for his mistake. Lan Jingyi hasn't seen Zewu-jun in nearly a year, and he's never seen him this stone-faced.

"No," the woman growls, gripping the back of Lan Jingyi's robes tighter. "Stay back, or I'll kill him."

Zewu-jun's face doesn't even twitch. "Why have you invaded the Cloud Recesses and threatened one of our own?"

The woman laughs, and Lan Jingyi tries hard not to flinch away. It's a loud, mirthless sound, right in his ear. She says, "Who are you to demand answers from me?" If he weren't being held as a hostage, Lan Jingyi would gape at her. Surely she can tell that Zewu-jun is an inner sect member even if she doesn't know precisely who he is.

"Irrelevant," Zewu-jun says, and even now that Lan Jingyi has realized who it is, he still has a moment of confusion. Zewu-jun has never sounded so much like his brother. "Tell me why you're here, quickly. I don't wish to disturb anyone else."

"She was going to the library," Lan Jingyi burst out. The woman pushes her sword against his neck. He thinks he can feel more blood.

Zewu-jun takes a step closer. "Thank you, Lan Jingyi," he says. "That will not be allowed to happen. I have protected the texts of the Lan sect before. No one will ever touch them without permission again."

"Who's going to stop me?" the woman challenges.

Lan Jingyi thinks he sees a slight twist to Zewu-jun's mouth before he moves, swiftly throwing a talisman at them. He's moving too quickly for Lan Jingyi to see clearly, but he feels the woman freeze and himself gently pushed away. By the time the woman has unfrozen, Lan Jingyi is on the ground out of her reach, and Zewu-jun is in front of her, sword at the ready.

The woman grunts, swinging her sword at Zewu-jun. He brings Shuoyue up effortlessly, blocking her strike and forcing her sword to the side. She's not bad, Lan Jingyi realizes. The woman doesn't use any style he's seen before, which fits with the rogue cultivator theory he's been building, but she moves quickly and her blade is steady. She must be a cultivator because the sword she uses clearly has spiritual energy behind it, but she sticks close to the ground, barely using her energy for anything besides the control of the sword.

They trade blows for a few moments, the woman fierce and aggressive, Zewu-jun striking efficiently at every opening she leaves. It's clear to Lan Jingyi that she will tire long before he does. He's never seen Zewu-jun truly fight before, and it's incredible. There are similarities to how Hanguang-jun fights, but Hanguang-jun tends to start out strong, overwhelming opponents with power they can't hope to match with the aim of ending any fights quickly and permanently. It seems that Zewu-jun waits, biding his time with perfectly executed maneuvers (Lan Jingyi thinks, with a sort of distantly hysterical humor, that he should take notes) until he can strike out.

It doesn't take long for that point to come. The woman backs away panting.

"Why are you here?" Zewu-jun asks again. He's not even out of breath.

The woman spits a bit of blood onto the ground. "Fuck you," she snarls, and lunges forward again. Zewu-jun doesn't even block, just leaps to the side, avoiding her strike. She's definitely losing her control.

"Did you come to steal from our library or to damage it?" is Zewu-jun's next question, delivered alongside a quick stab toward her arm that she barely jumps out of the way of.

"Steal, of course," she says breathlessly. "You won't stop me," she boasts. Lan Jingyi rolls his eyes. Doesn't she realize she's losing? The woman continues, "I've already managed to sneak in once, I'll do it again. Next time I'll just kill anyone who gets in my way."

Zewu-jun's back is to Lan Jingyi, so he can't see what expression is on Zewu-jun's face. Something changes in his posture, though, and he goes on the offensive, leaping toward her with a long slice of Shuoyue. It hits her shoulder as she tries to sidestep him.

"You will not," he snaps. The woman brings her sword up again, aiming for his neck, but Zewu-jun blocks it with his sword's sheath. She tries to kick him, but he pivots forcefully, negating her blow and bringing his sheath down to hit the back of her knee. She staggers to the ground.

Shuoyue glints as Zewu-jun brings it up to her throat. "Tell me how you got in," he says, his voice steady.

The woman glares up at him and pulls her arm back to swing her sword once more. Before she even has it off the ground, her sword goes flying as Shuoyue sweeps through the air and lodges in her hand. She screams.

"I asked you several questions which you have refused to answer," Zewu-jun says, returning the tip of his blade to her throat. "You have threatened one of my disciples, the security of our home, and the most sacred possessions we have. You cannot possibly believe you will be allowed to walk free."

"You all think you're so special," she sneers, but Lan Jingyi sees her swallow and her eyes dart around. "Plenty of you still died just like everyone else during the Sunshot Campaign. All those pretty jade pendants had to go somewhere, and some of them made their way to people who're happy to sell them. It's not hard to get a hold of one."

"I see," Zewu-jun's voice has gone even colder, and Lan Jingyi is starting to fear what exactly he might do. This isn't what Lan Jingyi is used to from him. Zewu-jun was never stern, not like Hanguang-jun or xiansheng. "We will look into this. Thank you for this information." He steps back, and the woman kneels there for a moment, her hand bleeding sluggishly. Before she can move, Zewu-jun slashes his hand through the air and a glowing binding appears around her. She falls to the ground awkwardly. "You will be shown before the Lan elders in the morning. They will pass judgement." Zewu-jun turns away from the woman struggling on the ground.

Lan Jingyi can't help but stare at him. When Zewu-jun comes to him, he kneels down. "Are you okay?" he asks, helping Lan Jingyi up.

"Yeah, I'm… fine. Are… how did you know to come out?" Lan Jingyi sneaks a glance at the woman, face-down on the path. "Are you… okay?"

Zewu-jun smiles for the first time that night, but it's faint and tired looking. "I'm alright. I wasn't asleep, and I heard you." They're not far from the Hanshi, Lan Jingyi realizes now.

"I'm sorry you had to come out of seclusion for me," Lan Jingyi says.

"Don't apologize for that," Zewu-jun says, shaking his head. "I would be a poor sect leader if I allowed one of our disciples to be harmed within our own walls."

Lan Jingyi looks back at the woman again. "Should we… do something with her?"

The night is still very dark, but he can see Zewu-jun's face go cold again. "I suppose we should. I find myself disinclined to show mercy to those who try to violate the safety of the Cloud Recesses." He sighs, and Lan Jingyi remembers, in a slow trickle of half-forgotten lessons, the stories of Zewu-jun saving ancient texts from the burning of the Cloud Recesses.

"We could always leave her by the wall of discipline," he says, determinedly cheerful. "She did break a whole lot of rules."

Zewu-jun looks at him and smiles again, this time a little more genuine. "It's certainly tempting. It would likely be better if we were to leave her in a warded guest chamber, though. That way we'll know exactly where our visitor is."

Lan Jingyi huffs. "I suppose," he says, sounding as petulant as he can muster. It usually works to cheer Sizhui up, so he figures it will probably work on Zewu-jun. "You're not going to make me copy rules for this, are you?" He's not actually worried, but the normality feels necessary at the moment.

"No, I think we can overlook this once, since your actions led to the prevention of something that could have been very bad." Zewu-jun walks over to the woman and places a talisman on her head. She slumps suddenly, and Lan Jingyi thinks he hears snoring. The binding disappears, and Zewu-jun motions him over. They get her propped up between the two of them and start walking toward the guest quarters.

"Can I just say," Lan Jingyi starts, trying not to sound too delighted. It would be improper but also… "That was so cool," he gushes.

At that, Zewu-jun even laughs a little. Lan Jingyi smiles to himself. He may not be the best disciple in the Cloud Recesses, but he can stop a thief, and more importantly, he can make people happy every once in a while. That's probably good enough.

#mdzs #the untamed #lan jingyi #mo dao zu shi #this is post canon! do not ask me any other questions i did not think about simply anything else #yes i am avoiding tagging another cahracter #its for the MYSTERY #thats why this isnt going on ao3 lol #thanks to remi for enabling me #my stuff

75 notes · View notes

gizkasparadise · 4 years ago

Text

cdrama rec/review: le coup de foudre

KDRAMA AND CDRAMA MASTER LIST OF REVIEWS

Series: le coup de foudre / love at first sight / i don’t like this world, i only like you Episodes: 35 w/ a special Genres: then & now, slice of life, high school to adult life, romance, reunion/getting back together, working with the ex Spoilers in the Rec: for set-up/light ones for character backgrounds If You Like, You’ll Like: the reply series, sad-looking dogs that are loved very much, because this is my first life (VERY similar male lead), sibling love, my sunshine but if people were nicer and had significantly better hair, multiple couples that are all a lot of fun

Rank: 10/10

PREMISE

flashback to 6-8 years ago (because the OP here can’t remember lol): it’s desk selection day in qiao yi’s classroom! a very dramatic moment for all high schoolers, qia yi has to select who she sits next to. because she’s at the bottom of the class ranking, she gets last pick, which essentially narrows down her choices to that creepy kid who writes love poetry to every female student in the class and yan mo, the scary genius student who has placed 1st in their class since...forever.

taking a gamble, qiao yi goes with yan mo. yan mo eventually agrees to tutoring qiao yi outside of class and they become friends. then...friends? if you know what i mean. it’s very sweet and cute. only problem is that yan mo is both a genius and from a Family of Means, and so is already planning on attending cambridge (yeah, fucking cambridge) after graduation. not wanting to separate, yan mo asks qiao yi to come with him and she agrees to study hard so she can get accepted to a university in the UK, too.

but then, well, bad shit happened.

qiao yi ended up staying in their home town, yan mo left for cambridge, and we got two v heartbroken teenagers on our hands.

4 years later, yan mo returns after studying in the uk, and by chance they end up bumping into each other. angry because qiao yi hurt him, yan mo puts up an ALOOF AND COLD AND I DONT CARE AT ALL front that she sadly buys. but after he leaves for the big city to pursue a business opportunity, qiao yi harnesses some amazing big dick energy to go after him, in a sort of inverse DONT LET HER GET ON THAT PLANE! move. very abba.

the plot bounces between their (and their friends’) high school years, their lives as reunited adults, and their future lives as married folks. i love it very, very much.

MAIN CHARACTERS

zhao qiao yi

as a high schooler, qiao yi was a quiet girl with low self-esteem, who consistently ranked at the bottom of her class and was always attempting to retreat into her school tracksuit like a turtle. despite this, qiao yi has some solid friends and is always kind if somewhat shy or uncomfortable in certain situations. as a adult, qiao yi works as a television producer and is clearly more confident.

she buys truly awful graphic t-shirts as thank you gifts that one feels obligated to wear. falls for scams easily. will help you fold 1000 paper stars for your boyfriend even if she hates your boyfriend because she’s ride or die like that. look at how cute she is no one is allowed to be mean to someone as cute as this.

yan mo / “frank”

if you liked se hee in because this is my first life, you’re in luck because here is a 10% angrier version. at first, yan mo seems cold, aloof, snobbish, pretentious, arrogant...

okay, but he’s ALSO got a lot of feelings and will help people out. well, at the start of the show, he’ll help two people out. but that expands to like 10. so, progress! in high school, he falls for qiao yi in the typical Cannot Spit It Out fashion, buying her sentimental cans of coke, PUTTING IN ONE EARBUD SO SHE CAN LISTEN TO THE BEATLES WITH HIM, feeling Weird about her tying his tie, and single-handedly ruining a for-profit afterschool tutoring business in about 30 seconds, because they weren’t teaching qiao yi anything, and he knew he could do it better. tbh he completely fucking destroys a lot of things and people in under a minute. #ruthless

he’s very protective of qiao yi and rather than explain it, here is a clip from the special episode where yan mo confronts another student who left a love confession meant for qiao yi in his desk by mistake (subtitles have to be selected under settings, but it’s subbed in english):

youtube

zhao guan chao

zhao qiao yi’s twin brother, who has always placed 2nd in their classes after yan mo. despite his high grades, he comes off as a laidback teen heartthrob and has a reputation for being a flake and a playboy. BUT he’s legit a chill dude and clearly popular for a reason--he gets along with (almost) everyone. he loves his sister and is extremely protective of her, especially since she’s so shy and has low self-esteem for Reasons That Will Be Explained in the Tragic Backstory. he’s such a good brother. the best brother. also looks out for qiao yi’s best friend, wu yi. understands the value of shoes.

hao wu yi

qiao yi’s best friend, and another classmate of The Crew. i say this with so, so much love, but she’s got a lot of chaotic dumbass energy. struggling along the bottom ranks with qiao yi during high school. she has the worst taste in men as a teenager, falling for the guy who literally bullied her in like. ep 2. thankfully she’s got qiao yi and guanchao.

the trio are close, and that doesn’t change as they grow up. wu yi ends up becoming a novelist who writes pop and steamy romance novels and has a significant teenage girl fanbase. it’s amazing.

fei da chuan

my boy. another classmate, he, qiao yi, and wu yi make up the official Dumbass Trio of their high school class and have adorable adventures + solidarity in it. he’s also yan mo’s uncle. somehow. because rich people families are wild. while he’s got a place to live, he more often than not crashes at yan mo’s, who Does Not Like It. but da chuan does not notice or care.

abrasive but 100% sincere about everything and toward everyone. people will think he’s an asshole or a gangster but then he’s secretly feeding abandoned kittens in the corner or something. as an adult, has the best business casual outfits. serves as a big brother figure to a lot of people, but qiao yi in particular. cannot, cannot fucking do math.

SUPPORTING

“alicia” / cheng youmei. an old family friend of yan mo’s who is very posh and rich and dignified. studied abroad with him at cambridge, and is cold toward qiao yi after arriving back in china. cosplays B)

teacher gao. everyone’s high school teacher who later owns a bar that seems to be there only for dispensing advice. seriously. there is no way this bar is economically sound as the only customers you ever see are gao’s students coming in one at a time for Wisdom and you never see them pay for anything. also the bar has no fucking roof and is directly above traintracks. i have hang-ups about this bar

lin shu. yan mo’s mother. very sweet and pretty and a ballernia turned program director. is almost never home but clearly loves her son. du chaun’s sister. somehow.

zhao suyin. qiao yi and guan chao’s mother. one of her kinks is roleplaying condor heroes characters? okay okay okay

tian weimin. qiao yi and guan chao’s stepfather who works as police officer. best dad award. he’s so sweet and corny and peak dad humor. he loves them kids & they love him back

grandpa. yan mo’s dog in high school. a very old basset hound with sad eyes:

dollar or d. i cant tell you anything about him, other than he used to be a stray and yan mo says he’s ugly, which, rude.

DRAWBACKS

plot...hm. there’s SOME plot, but this is about characters + romance + friendship + family. if you’re looking for scheming mothers-in-law or tragic car accidents or secret destinies this isn’t the one for you. similar in vibe to Reply 1988 (they even watch the show in the show :’D / make references to it)

OKAY SO every plot summary i’ve seen says that yan mo is in a relationship with someone else when he gets back to china. no he is not. i say this because it was a huge turn off for me/initially put me off watching the series. he is definitely a one-and-only type. there’s no cheating in this show. lmao, hell, neither of the mains are even interested in anyone else but each other

i liked du chuan and his love interest a lot, but they definitely didn’t get as much screen time as the others

while it’s clear qiao yi + yan mo are the mains, another couple gets a lot of screen time as well. this might be a skip if you don’t like multiple couples/secondary relationships in a show

i surprisingly enjoyed the high school storyline a lot more than the adult one? which is super weird for me, but idk i was sad when it was over because it was so cute.

some...weird technical decisions. every once in a while, the camera will have like a nostalgia filter and then it disappears and then the edges get a bit blurry and idk it feels very film school 101 to show that what’s on screen is a ~memory. the soundtrack/music is sometimes also too loud--to the point where it can drown out the actors (particularly janice wu in the high school arc, since qiao yi is soft-spoken)

REASONS TO WATCH

the lead actors (janice wu + zhang yujian) are legit two of my favorites and they have great/easy chemistry. all the actors are amazing. everyone’s loveable

SIBLING GOALS the zhao twins are amazing and they’re both each other’s biggest fans. gaunchao had some really heartwarming brother moments

i love love lmao. this spoke to a lot of my favorite dynamics: exes reunited/having to work together, childhood sweethearts reuniting as adults, “gangster” and princess, childhood friends turned lovers, bickering couples, cold man who actually has a lot of feelings, lots of people being overprotective, idk. everything was just great. 0 complaints on any of the ships.

i genuinely liked every character other than that one piece of shit poppa zhao. even alicia, who’s put into the stereotypical rich bitch role, was actually really fun and subverted a lot of expectations for this trope

it’s just. real cute y’all. probably my favorite cdrama and definitely in my top 10 (maybe 5?) dramas overall.

FINAL THOUGHTS

i love them ;;

#le coup de foudre #janice wu #zhang yujian #eden zhao #ma li #cdrama #gizka does kdrama #!my post #why yes i am procrastinating please have another in this trying time #this one's my favoriiiiiiiiiiiiiiite

61 notes · View notes

valdrift · 5 years ago

Text

hi its 3am and i wrote down dnd au shit that im putting under cut bc its. long

pre-canon is mostly the same with minor differences bc d&d magic at play

jyl and jzx die but they're ok bc true resurrection baby. maybe it takes them a while to be resurrected bc, at the time, resurrection is a fairly new spell/VERY expensive (requires diamonds worth 25k gp in game)/no one was high enough level to cast the spell and also the spell is taxing on the caster/resurrection is taboo (not sure abt that one). anyways they live and raise jl :) jc is still angry but for different reasons and he's also Not As Angry and misses his brother. wwx doesn't know that jyl/jzx lived

wwx doesn't die. during the bloodbath of nightless city, he manages to destroy one half of the stygian tiger seal but before he can destroy the other, the siege on the burial mounds happens. he planeshifts to the 9 hells to escape taking the remaining half with him. such spells were completely unknown at the time and were of wwx's invention so ppl just assumed he died/killed himself. he stays in hell for 13 years (part cultivating his powers/part thinking he deserves it) before finally returning to the material plane thx to mxy

during those 13 years, ppl definitely try to reach him. BUT considering he's on another plane of existence, they often fail. communication spells like sending usually fail but Some do reach him, though he thinks he's just going crazy or it's just wishful thinking. (jyl successfully sends him a message like "a-xian? are you there? …well, wherever you are, i hope you're ok. i miss you. i love you. we all do. please come back." and wwx thinks it isn't real. he DEFINITELY cries when he finds out it actually was real and he wasn't losing his mind in hell)

REGARDING WWX'S POWERS: no one has done it like him!! forming a pact with a fiend was practically unheard of/extremely taboo and the fact that he managed to outgrow his patron in terms of power (lvl 20 baby) is something in of itself. wwx is like The First Warlock Ever and after his "death" many others tried to follow in his footsteps, however no one came even close in terms of power. xy maybe but fuck that guy lol

MXY LIVES!!! bc of reasons he manages to get his hands on a deck of many things from the jin vault (perhaps nhs had a hand in it :eyes:) and draws a wish card on the first try (Very Lucky). he uses that card to essentially wish a pact with the yiling patriarch into existence and over in hell wwx is like "hey wtf is going on" and pops into mxy's shed to see what's up

wq also lives!! jgs covered up her death and wn and her bust out of jinlintai when wwx calls

CURRENT-CANON:

mxy and wwx have a patron/ward relationship. wwx Knows he's not like his own patron and has no desire for mxy's soul or w/e so he's just "yea fine i guess i'll be your evil teacher :/"

wtf is wwx's patron anyway lol…..maybe it's a demon/fiendish entity that resided in the burial mounds that wwx formed a pact with to survive. it probably hangs out on another plane of existence and was partly responsible for his deteriorating mental state.

at mo manor, the mo family dies without mxy or wwx rlly having to do anything. mxy uses his fledgling warlock skills to help out the lan juniors with the arm. lwj shows up after and wwx's like AH FUCK and dips with mxy following after him

wwx uses mask of many faces to disguise himself in his humansona (bc like. he's a tiefling and also very recognizable, being the yiling patriarch and all no biggie) and has bonding moments with mxy. mxy realizes that wwx is not actually evil incarnate; he's actually a fucking dumbass ESPECIALLY when the man starts talking about lwj. (idk how this plays in but I want wwx to complain abt lwj like "i used to be taller than him, now we're the same height?? bullshit >:(" bc i am spreading my short lwj propaganda)

mxy and wwx run into jl at some point. wwx is like :'( when he finds out who it is, jl is a baby homophobe and mxy is like I Will Tell Your Mother to which wwx goes WHAT. BACK UP bc surprise, jyl's actually alive! while he's reeling with this information, mxy drags him away

at dafan mountain, mxy and wwx help out the juniors with the goddess statue. wwx summons wn and jc is like HEY WAIT A SECOND. he goes to hit wwx with zidian (still has the ability to knock possessive spirits but it also has dispel magic, not good for wwx's disguise!) however mxy deflects it with *fjord critical role voice* Eldritch Blast earning lwj's respect. anyways lwj takes both mxy and wwx back to the cloud recesses; mxy doesn't see what's the big deal, wwx is freaking out and Desperately wants to planeshift out of there but he has a ward now and disappearing like that would mean the jigs up considering no one else can planeshift

at the cloud recesses, mxy ditches wwx with lwj so the two can have a Talk to go chill. lwj is like "wei ying drop the humansona i know it's you" and wwx goes :O well. after, mxy comes back and is like "ok so here's the deal with the arm" and spills what he knows abt jgy and what he did and the 3 of them head off to get evidence

I Do Not Remember much of their whole like journey to piece nmj's body back together but it'd probably go much faster with mxy alive and knowledgeable to jgy's shit

wangxian are still gay and stupid

idk abt yi city but songxiao and a-qing get a better ending and xy eats shit

there will def be a yunmeng sib reunion.

POST-CANON:

pulling a page from cql, lwj is chief cultivator but only so he can like. actually do some good then once he's done dismantles the position or smth so he can live out his house husband dreams with wwx

wwx still goes on that journey so he can relearn what it's like to be a person in society and not someone hated and demonized. also he lived in literal hell for 13 years, dude needs time to process that. but u KNOW when he comes back, he's eloping with lwj

with all the pieces of nmj's body back together, nhs true resurrects him :)

NOTES:

wen clan are a mix of tiefling and human, with direct members being tiefling

lsz and ljy are human, jl is half-elf (half-triton), and ozz is a tabaxi (catboy rights!!)

wwx definitely used mask of many faces to entertain a-yuan in the burial mounds by disguising himself as whoever a-yuan asked. (disguises himself as lwj at their dinner date bc a-yuan said so and lwj is like Fuck…….He Would Make Such A Good Father…………)

#dnd au #OOF ok so n e ways #i gotta brush up on the timeline i do NAUGHT remember half the things that happened lol

71 notes · View notes

yiling · 4 years ago

Text

Untamed rewatch Episode 10

GREMLIN TIME GREMLIN TIME

-see the first time I watched this, I misread xingchen having tracked xue yang entirely and i thought xxc and xy had known each other for a While...like xue yang was his evil ex or something. that impression intensified when song lan was introduced. I still kind of stand by that interpretation lol, it’s funny

-xue yang deeply fucking obnoxious but i love

-“let’s just watch” oh my god wwx. you could’ve pulled him off balance with that talisman way more than you did, you know. I know you’re getting your own personal martial artsmovie here, but come on dude

-this fight is really cool tho!! I love yi city gang!!!

-xxc’s tiny smile when he says “Zichen” just fuck me up

-“I happened to hunt nearby” uh huh, I’m sure song lan, you just HAPPENED to BE IN THE AREA...

-ahh everyone admires songxiao so much! lwj actually smiles the tiniest little bit when he says their titles, which is adorable, and wwx and jc are also clearly impressed. honestly I can imagine them all nursing secret dreams of being independent cultivators for a while after this

-one day I’ll write a very unfortunate wwx/xy ship manifesto and it’ll just be this scene

��-xue yang’s expression when wwx asks why he killed the Chang clan...chilling. there’s so much here that hits harder on a rewatch, wow.

-oh wwx calls him xiao-xiong, cute-I wonder what meng yao’s motivation is in asking songxiao to come back to the unclean realm with them - trying to secure advantages for his sect?

-I love wwx being like “oh you guys are just like me and lan zhan!!” like, the “young queer person just starting to figure themselves out sees themselves in older gay couple” vibe is so strong and like. I really do have a lot of feelings about it

-I also feel very deeply about this one-minute conversation wwx and xxc have. wwx wants so badly to know about his mom :( and xingchen is so kind about it. I think it’s interesting what his expression does when he mentions not being able to go back. he misses living on the mountain a little, I think. it’s amazing how much character he’s invested with for how little we ultimately see of him. -“don’t forget me xingchen!” hoo boy.

-again, I originally interpreted those glances songxiao give each other as “that’s your creepy ex right?” “yeah, don’t worry about it, I’ll explain later”. amusing in hindsight.

-lwj gazing after xxc and sl as they leave, and the look he and wwx share...the sheer amount of Longing infused into this episode is...wow.

-I think this meeting plants some seeds for lwj’s later choices, too. it clearly does for wwx, he’s very gung ho about the idea of working together based on likemindedness rather than blood, but lwj needs some more time to admit to himself that that’s what he wants.

-hey is lwj smiling a little when they get to the unclean realm? I wonder if he’s spent a lot of time here with his brother

-cannot pay Any attention to what anyone is saying at the unclean realm cause I’m just watching xy’s stupid face

-ooh evil summer camp is coming up

-hey nmj calls him wangji, that’s cute and interesting. it’s clear he and lxc have known each other for a quite a while, so he probably is at least friendly with the younger Jade by association

-the first time we watched this scene with xy and nmj, my sister was, like, pretending to do xue yang’s internal monologue, which was mostly variants on “yes daddy” and I had to tell her to shut up because I was laughing so hard

-WHEN THEYRE TALKING ABOUT HOW NMJ VALUES MENG YAO, XUE YANG IS GIGGLING IN THE CORNER...DOES HE THINK THEY’RE BANGING

-xue yang and meng yao do a Lot of significant glancing at each other this episode. game recognize game. I wonder when meng yao decided that xy was an asset to him

-if the unclean realm had a decent HR department we could’ve avoided all this

-the xue yang-xue chonghai connection is stupid and does significant damage to xue yang as a character, the whole point of xy is that he’s got no background and no ancestry, he really is just some asshole who does what he wants

-oh hey it’s wen zhuliu

-okay but why does Netflix translate red blade master but no one else’s title

-the earnest shock and hurt on nmj’s face when meng yao kills the captain...ouch

-legit thought meng yao was gonna be killed at this part the first time I watched it

-around here my mom asked if yanli was the only actual female character (this episode is a complete sausagefest) and I was like no...except...yeah...the women situation is so dire in this show, and like it’s partly from the source material, but still. it irritates me whenever I pay attention to it.

-does wen chao call xy a tragic lad...what

-nhs pacing anxiously with his fan while his brother confronts meng yao...yikes

-my mom thought nmj and meng yao were actually brothers for some reason?

-“I don’t regret having met you, chifeng-zun” really rhymes with “if I could die by your hand it would be worth it”, huh. his expression, too

#cql #the untamed #untamed rewatch liveblog #mine #i've seen people point to this episode as where things really start to pick up plot wise and i agree with that #what with allusions to yi city in the future and setting up jiggy's Whole Entire Thing #also i'm clearly deeply biased due to being an inveterate songxiaoist but i think letting them meet wangxian while they were all living was #a really good choice #i just liked this episode a lot idk man!

3 notes · View notes

youtiaoshutiao · 7 years ago

Text

translation: shen yue’s and hu yi tian’s long messages about “a love so beautiful”

The day before ALSB aired, Shen Yue posted a heartfelt weibo essay about her experience filming the drama and about her fellow cast members. Just today, two days after ALSB finished airing, Hu Yi Tian also posted a really long weibo post (which if you stalk his weibo, you would find that that is extremely abnormal among the rest of his posts consisting of barely a few words) about ALSB. Just really thought that both posts were super sincere and lovely and felt like translating it, though I’m not sure if other people have already done so. Please excuse any awkward sentence structures!! I tried my best :P

original posts by: shen yue and hu yi tian @ sina weibo

translated by: yt st / youtiaoshutiao @ tumblr

(All italicised words are additional notes by me)

shen yue: “written for our little beautiful moments” [published on the 8th of November 2017, a day before ALSB started airing]

(Original link: https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404171872605503107)

I as a person probably have a foible of absolutely having to say a really long paragraph of words before major events happen.

In that case, I’ll begin to speak. Okay… then let’s begin speaking from the auditions of A Love So Beautiful (ALSB).

On that morning of me attending the auditions, to boost my courage, I swallowed half a glass of red wine in one mouthful. But I didn’t expect that my face would flush when I drank alcohol, when I arrived at the audition site, my face had turned as red as Lord Guan (NOTE: Guan Yu, who is often portrayed with a red face in Chinese Opera)…… My manager turned her head around to look at me and got a huge shock, she kept on muttering that we were ruined… It was precisely with this face of Lord Guan that I met everyone’s Teacher Hu (NOTE: referring to Hu Yi Tian).

You guys, don’t look at how I normally appear so quick-witted or write memes on Weibo and think that I as a person am quite ok, actually in real life, once I am faced with a major scene/spectacle/occasion, I become super cowardly. Fortunately, the alcohol that day achieved its purpose, allowing me to be totally fearless even in front of the super handsome guy that Teacher Hu was, and let loose and act.

Following that was a period of endless waiting, I really felt that I waited for an extremely long time. I waited till the point where I began to beg the koi on weibo (NOTE: a common phenomenon on weibo where netizens often reblog a picture of a koi for good luck). Then one morning, I finally received a Wechat message from my manager saying that they had decided on me. I hugged my phone and shrieked while lying on my bed for about three minutes, itching to go downstairs and set off some fireworks.

Later on Teacher Hu told me that actually at the last juncture of finalising who to act as Chen Xiaoxi, his own opinion did have a little bit of impact, and he hoped that I in the future would not forget who had dug the well when I drink water (NOTE: meaning to not forget your benefactor). These words have caused me to feel chills down my back whenever I drink water now.

After entering set without a hitch, I met Teacher Hu, Zi Wei, Sun Ning, Old Gao one after another.

Teacher Hu and I are both people who are slow to warm up to others. To let both of us become familiar with each other quickly, everyone forcefully made us do everything together. Every time Zi Wei, Sun Ning and Old Gao gathered together and chatted with each other passionately, Teacher Hu and I would stand by the side, being so awkward and at a complete loss of what to do, staring into space separately. Later on, I forgot how Teacher Hu and I became close to each other… It probably started when we had a meme/emoticon picture war…. After that we slowly became friends who could share snacks together, and when we became even more familiar with each other we started despising each other (NOTE: this is in jest, hahaha), and we fought with each other everyday.

Zi Wei is a very enthusiastic girl. Just after we added each other on Wechat, she sent me a message: “Chen Xiaoxi! I am your big brother!” Once I saw this style, I felt like it was really compatible with me, and I immediately replied her with a emoticon/meme picture saying “Let’s sleep together when we are free”. I don’t know if she really took it seriously, but sure enough after that she repeatedly invited me to go to her room and sleep together with her…

As for Sun Ning, Sun Ning immediately upon meeting me started to be courteous with me, saying, “Aiya, you’re really adorable.” I also was courteous with him, saying, “Thank you, thank you.” Later on, our conversations often went like this – “You’re really adorable.” “Bah! Who are you saying is adorable? You are the one who is adorable?” “Hey, who are you scolding that they are adorable?” “You are adorable, you’re the most adorable person in the world”… This repeated itself endlessly.

As for Old Gao, I initially really thought that he was really cold, and that he probably didn’t like to hang out with girls. So sometimes I was pretty afraid of acting together with him. Later on we were filming a scene, I was crying really wretchedly and my mucus got onto his clothes. He said, “Chen Xiaoxi, why are you so disgusting?”, then the two of us got into a fight, and after that we were close.

I’m really thankful for all the people I met on the ALSB set. Even though the entire production crew, from the director to the costume people, makeup people and props crew, all seemed to despise me, and all liked to deride me, but they genuinely and sincerely took care of me. I love you guys.

*exhales* lastly, I haven’t seen the final product, and I don’t know how I’ve portrayed my role, so now I’m also really panicky in my heart. Just after we finished filming, the few of us said that if the finalised drama airs and we don’t dare to watch it alone at home, we should arrange to watch it together at an internet café, and we could even roast each other as well. But now everyone has their own matters that they are busy with, and we are all in different cities, so we can’t meet together.

In a true sense, ALSB is Teacher Hu’s and my first time acting in a show. I feel that the producers are really daring to let us act as the main male and female leads. The final presentation may perhaps have areas which people are not too satisfied with, I can only… plead with everyone to pardon me/us more.

Bowing.

hu yi tian’s weibo post [written on the 12th of December 2017, two days after ALSB finished its run]:

(Original link: https://www.weibo.com/3228634923/FyR2kg4qt?type=comment#_rnd1512809496922)

(screenshot of first episode’s title: “Dear Jiang Chen”)

To all audience who like ALSB:

“Hello, I am the actor who portrayed Jiang Chen, Hu Yi Tian.” This period of time, it seems like this is how I am always introducing myself to everyone, sometimes I even will begin to blur the boundary lines between myself and Jiang Chen. In many of the interviews, I am often asked this question – “Do you think you and Jiang Chen are similar?” My answer is also always very certain. How he is very reserved with regards to his emotions, and the many times his words do not actually reflect what he feels, these are the biggest similarities between me and him. Therefore, during the airing period of ALSB, while on one hand, I was really happy about the love that everyone had for ALSB, and the love everyone had for me, on the other hand, I was really nervous in my heart, and I was also feeling overwhelmed from the favour everyone showed me. Just like Jiang Chen in the drama, facing all the “Chen Xiaoxis”, I felt an unprecedented nervousness. Did my present self really deserve this love everyone was showing me, could I properly respond to this love from everyone?

Because actually, as opposed to Jiang Chen’s perfection, I personally am very ordinary. I have an ordinary family background, an ordinary family environment, an ordinary growth trajectory, I spent twenty plus years just being this ordinary. But the airing of ALSB allowed me to have the fortune to come into everyone’s presence, and come into the Mahjongs’ (NOTE: the term for Hu Yi Tian’s fans) presence. This one month plus, I got to know you guys and got to have you guys, your affection and your support also made me become not “ordinary” anymore. Even though I’ve already said words of gratitude many times, but I still want to say, really, thank you so much.

At the same time, I also want to thank my team for handing Jiangchen over to me. For close to two years, we have worked hard together, and came this far today, and we will still walk the roads that come after this together. It is inevitable that the start of a novice’s journey will be chaotic and full of turmoil. I also hope that everyone would give us some more time, believe in me, and also believe that my team will all become even better.

ALSB has reached its finale, even though I don’t want to say goodbye, I still have to say goodbye. However I believe that we will see each other again very soon. In order to match up to this love that you guys have given me, I will work even harder, and improve myself as quickly as possible, to let you guys see an even less “ordinary” me on a bigger screen, then after that, to continue accompanying you day after day. (NOTE: Hu Yi Tian’s name - i.e. Yi Tian, literally means “one day” in Chinese)

#a love so beautiful #致我们单纯的��美好 #cdramanet #shen yue #hu yi tian #沈月 #胡一天 #translations #mine #i like them even more after reading these two posts :3

135 notes · View notes

thelittlevillager · 8 years ago

Photo

Hanging with Halaboji: Yeosu Part 1 (여수 여행 - 1)

- Odongdo (오동도) - Jinamguan (지남관) - Admiral Yi Sun Shin’s statue

Just came back from one of the most spontaneous trips of my life. As a detailed planner, I always make sure I know exactly what my plan is for each day. Plus, this was my first solo trip to a completely new location in South Korea - Yeosu. I wanted to go to Yeosu because I read that Yeosu was where the famous battle of well-respected Admiral Yi Sun Shin’s 12 turtleships beat Japan’s 300+ battleships, by going against the order of the king (who had fled the capital) to protect the country (I know all these courtesy of Infinity Challenge’s Hiphop History Special hehe).

Headed from Dongdaegu express bus terminal (newly integrated with the new Shinsegae mall!!!!) to Suncheon, with the intention of transferring to the Yeosu Expo-bound train, BUT!! As we headed into Suncheon, the bus stopped randomly and people started getting off, so I quickly asked the grandfather sitting next to me if that was the right stop (no, was the answer haha). And he then asked me what I was doing and if I was heading to Yeosu. I got a bit worried because 1. random male stranger 2. overly friendly 3. how did he know??? When we reached Suncheon terminal, parted ways with the grandfather and went to ask the tourist reception counter how to head to Yeosu from there. Before I could really get an answer, the grandfather came back with the bus ticket for me??!! And so we started talking.

Turns out the grandfather was also headed to Yeosu on a spontaneous trip. He started work that morning and suddenly felt the need to see the dongbaek flower that only blossoms in winter, prompted by his memories of the blooming red flower from 20 years ago. As we reached Yeosu bus terminal, the grandfather asked me what my plans in Yeosu were, and I answered, no plans at all! (I know. I probably shouldn’t say something like that to a random male stranger, and I won’t ever again, I promise. But I was feeling adventurous that day.) And he invited me to join him and his friend whom he had not met for 20 years for lunch, which then led to touring the place, which then led to dinner, which then led to the next day plans, etc etc. And I ended up hanging out with the grandfather for the whole of my 5d4n “solo” trip.

So our first lunch was this AMAZING spread of sashimi. I thought the sashimi that I had at Pohang with Jihyang was amazing, but this spread was just WOW. I desperately wanted to take photos of the food, but since we had just met, I felt it might be kind of rude as a younger person to take photos of food that I wasn’t going to pay for. Totally regretted eating smoked salmon fried rice on the bus... And that was just the first free meal. I just continually had free meals again and again. SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED BY THEIR GENEROSITY <3

As we were eating, the news about former UN Sec Gen Ban Ki Moon pulling out of the Korean presidential race was flashed on the tv in the restaurant. And as we started talking about politics, suddenly Grandfather #2 blurted out, “he is assh*le.” LOL. Yeah, most of the Koreans that I know don’t seem to fancy him becoming President as he is seen 1. not as the leader who can bring radical change to the Korean society as necessary, meaning lessening the control of chaebols in the economy 2. he has a bad reputation of lacking integrity, as he was perceived of not showing sufficient gratitude to the Korean President back then who supported his bid for UN Sec Gen 3. he should just retire, especially since there is a UN article that advises former Sec Gen not to run for elections as soon as they retire.

The friend that he had not met for 20 years had moved from Seoul to Yeosu for about 2 years because he liked the space and the chill life there, fishing and nature. (We learnt the words describing countryside and city life in class, so these words came to very great use.) Thanks to this grandfather #2, I got a good tour of all the tourist attractions and all the food that we ate were goooood! SO MUCH SEAFOOD. Yeosu is in Jeollanam province - famous for good food - and the places we ate surely met my expectations.

He then brought us to Odongdo (where there are loads of pokemon... haha I know, besides the point...) where the dongbaek flowers were in bloom! The island also had the sign “若无湖南是无国家“ (if there were no hunan - the place where Admiral Yi Sun Shin’s 12 ships won the battle against Japan’s 300+ ships - there would be no country.) So we did one round around the small island, and returned back to the mainland through the connecting bridge.

With the little time left, our guide grandfather wanted to bring me to more places, like Jinamguan (the commanding post of Admiral Yi Sun Shin during the battle) and the turtleship located in Yi Sun Shin square. But they were both closed after 5pm during winter, so I just took loads of photos of Admiral Yi Sun Shin’s statue and the turtle ship at the square.

We then headed for dinner - seafood again! I rarely eat seafood in Singapore, but I enjoyed the fresh seafood there so much that the grandfathers actually thought I like seafood. HAHA. Our guide grandfather really likes to drink, so they were drinking beer while eating the fish. The place we ate is very local - everyone inside were men, except for the serving ahjumma, so I felt reallly out of place at first, but then I realised everyone was more interested in their beer than me. And because the ahjumma spoke with a really cute aegyo, they invited her to drink with us and they started shooting hearts at each other! SUPER FUNNY to see two old people shooting hearts Korean style to each other.

As we had our dinner, I suddenly noticed that Grandfather #1 wore a hat and a coat, very much like Lee Dong Wook in his role as the grim reaper in the drama Goblin, so I promptly told him so. Even funnier was the fact that Grandfather #2 also looked like Gong Yoo who acted as goblin in the same drama. So the two of them together really really reminded me of the bromance in the drama :)

Then I was dropped off and went to stay at the guesthouse I booked - Yeosu Inn Guesthouse. I was the only person in a 6-female dorm, so I really enjoyed the space and privacy in the room :) End of First Day!!!

#koreatrippin #yeosu #korea #hanging with halaboji #여수 #한국 #전라남도 #Admiral Yi Sun Shin #이순신장꾼 #오동도 #동백꽃

0 notes