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bbcphile · 8 months ago

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The Yin Leaves Threat Is a Bluff (MLC Meta)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook fans: Are we ready to talk about how the yin leaves threat was a bluff?

So many people seem to be taking Di Feisheng at his word that he wanted to make Li Xiangyi eat the yin leaves of the Wangchuan flower to regain his martial arts for one last glorious fight and that he was fine with Li Xiangyi dying very painfully from their poison after. And I see why: after all, LLH took him at his word, too, and LLH is famously smart and a good detective.

However, LLH has a history of jumping to false conclusions about DFS and, like the rest of the jianghu, assuming the worst of him: in fact, his mistaken belief that DFS broke the peace treaty and had his shixiong killed is the central misunderstanding that nearly destroyed both their respective sects and each other. So, since LLH is canonically very bad at telling who actually wants him dead and who loves him, it’s worth investigating this further. And looking at DFS’ history of bluffing is a good place to start.

DFS and Bluffing

Di Feisheng has a history of bluffing and/or threatening to kill or torture people when he doesn’t mean it. Here are some of his most notable examples (but click here for a much longer list of things he’s lied about or withheld info about):

Threatening to kill Qiao Wanmian to convince LLH to let him find a cure for Bicha (he doesn’t kill women)

Threatening to torture Gao Qian for information (he searches rooms instead)

Threatening to kill FDB when LLH says he’s trouble (the smirk after shows he was joking)

Threatening to kill Xiao Zijin at the wedding if LLH doesn’t help him get into 188 prisons (LLH walks him into a trap and yet DFS doesn’t even try to hurt XZJ in the fight)

Lying about poisoning and curing QWM to protect LLH’s identity and pretending to kidnap her

In all of those examples, DFS is trying to help or protect LLH, albeit in a very dysfunctional way. In the first example, he’s trying to blackmail LLH into living; the second example is to solve the case to find Shi Hun to expel the Asura Grass so he can find a cure for Bicha; the third is a joke, but also one designed to make LLH admit he does care about FDB because LLH is pretending he doesn’t care about anything as a prelude to giving up once he finds SGD’s body; the fourth is to get evidence that someone framed the Jinyuanmeng so LLH will trust him again and want to live to figure out who really killed his shixiong; and the last is to protect LLH’s identity (even though he only agreed to protect it until the Asura Grass was expelled. He’s trying to prove to LLH that LLH can trust him and he wants to help him, not harm him.)

All that to say: DFS has a history of bluffing about threatening to kill people if he thinks it will help Xiangyi live, and will take on the role of the villain—role the jianghu regularly casts him in—if he thinks it will help. And as some of those examples show, he also doesn’t share his plans with LLH until after the plan has been completed. And just look at all the things DFS withheld from LXY at their first donghai battle if you need more examples: he doesn’t mention that he knows it’s a frame job or why he stole SGD’s body. In all these examples, it’s not just that DFS has control issues and doesn’t want to share theories until he has proof: it seems likely that he knows/assumes LXY wouldn’t have believed him, because LLH already proved he didn’t trust him when he fell for the frame job, broke the peace treaty, and attacked the Jinyuanmeng. DFS assumes that there’s no point in presenting information to someone who won’t listen to it; he’d think it’s a waste of time and energy that could be better spent actively solving the problem.

But Why Bluff About the Yin Leaves?

Yao Mo’s Questionable Loyalty:

When DFS says he just needs LLH to live long enough to compete with him, he’s not talking to LLH himself: he’s talking to Yao Mo. In fact, the entire yin leaves plan was Yao Mo’s idea. And that changes everything.

Why? Well, for starters, Yao Mo is the one who invented the Bicha poison and gave it to JLQ to use on LXY (without DFS’ knowledge or permission). That alone is reason enough for DFS to not know if he can trust him, and this lack of trust explains why DFS never told Yao Mo that the mystery patient was LXY/LLH or that he was poisoned by Bicha. Since JLQ poisoned LXY because DFS paid so much attention to him and to fighting with him, it makes sense that DFS would try to protect LLH by hiding his identity and not drawing attention to him.

But of course, as soon as Yao Mo figures out the mystery patient was poisoned with Bicha, that secret is blown. The pained face (and Throat Bob of Emotion) DFS makes while Yao Mo is having this realization shows not only how upset he is that they don’t yet have a cure, but also how worried he is that Yao Mo now knows it’s LLH, which makes everything more complicated.

DFS was right that Yao Mo would figure it out, since the first thing Yao Mo does after this realization is tell DFS he’s thought of a way “to heal him so he can compete with you.” DFS had pointedly NOT mentioned competing with him in front of Yao Mo yet (to hide LLH’s identity), so this is definitive proof that his cover is blown and that DFS needs to find a new way to keep LLH safe.

This new plan is to downplay how much LLH means to him, and that motive explains so much about this scene. We know from watching him grieve and tear up while mourning LLH at his personal waterfall after his enthronement ceremony that DFS is miserable because of LXY’s supposed death and that he doesn’t see the point in fighting anymore without him, so we know that one last fight with LXY wouldn’t fix that: he’d still be dead and DFS would still be devastated.

(Here are some screenshots of him mourning at the waterfall.)

But this isn’t common knowledge. In fact, it seems to be a closely guarded secret; he’s mourning in private, with only Wuyan as a witness. In public and to the rest of his subordinates, he’s trying to project the attitude of the unemotional, unflappable, heartless demon of the jianghu because his reputation is part of his armor that keeps him safe. It lets him seem like he doesn’t have any weaknesses (since “a swordsman shouldn’t have weaknesses”), and it keeps people from knowing that his primary weakness (other than the mind control bug) is LXY/LLH.

(NOTE: He’s not even comfortable with anyone other than Wuyan and the three kings knowing he cares more about reaching the pinnacle of martial arts than he does about the Jinyuanmeng itself, and it’s not clear if any of them know that he mainly wants to increase his strength and power to free himself from the mind control bug. That’s how closely he guards his vulnerabilities.)

With that in mind, if he wants to keep Yao Mo (and therefore JLQ) from knowing how important LXY is to him, there’s only one possible answer to Yao Mo’s question about whether he’d mind if LLH dies from the yin leaves after the fight: pretending he wouldn’t object. If he said he’d give up a fight rather than let LLH die from the yin leaves, then Yao Mo would know LLH matters to him more than fighting, which would be revealing a weakness. If DFS said he would give the entire Wangchuan flower to LLH to cure him and would therefore be sacrificing his chance of getting stronger, it would be painting an even larger target on LLH’s back and showing Yao Mo that endangering LLH would be the key to controlling him. The only safe option for both LLH and DFS is for DFS to claim he doesn’t care if LLH dies after they fight and to give orders to find the flower.

Here’s a gif of his command about the Wangchuan flower:

Notice his furrowed brow, the tightness around his eyes and mouth, the way he’s almost wincing as he gives the order? He is miserable about having to play this game and his incredible poker face is barely up to the task.

Here’s a still image of right after the pronouncement; you can still see the barely suppressed wince.

After this command, he dismisses Yao Mo from the cave immediately so he doesn’t have to keep pretending he’s going to sacrifice LLH. The entire time Yao Mo is present, even while he’s walking away, DFS holds himself completely motionless, staying in character from the bluff and desperately waiting to be alone with LLH. The instant Yao Mo is gone, DFS slumps in relief, or at least, does his version of a slump: he bows/droops his head as though the weight of what just happened was too much to shoulder.

Here’s a close-up of his reaction:

DFS’s relief at being alone with LLH shows that he believed LLH knew him well enough to know when he was bluffing.

He was wrong.

LLH: Believing the Worst of DFS (again)

LLH’s belief that DFS wants to kill him for a duel makes sense, since at this point, he still thinks DFS did in fact have SGD killed and broke the peace treaty, and he’s pissed off, feeling betrayed, and also in pain (from the medicine and the Beifeng Baiyang transfer that made him cough up blood, and from all the snake bites–he’s primed to read those as exclusively aggressive and cruel attempts to heal him at all costs for the fight, and not to realize that DFS would absolutely do all these things to himself to heal his own martial arts without batting an eye. And he’s in too much pain to see the horrified look on DFS’s face when LLH coughs up blood and DFS realized he almost killed LLH while trying to cure him.)

But that doesn’t mean LLH is right.

DFS, upon seeing that LLH has again cast him as the heartless villain, doesn’t try to dispute it. In the same way that he didn’t explain about why he took SGD’s body at the donghai battle, he doesn’t explain himself about the flower, possibly because he thinks he doesn’t have time to waste arguing. His goal is to get LLH to live–he grieved him for a decade, after all, and doesn’t want to have to do it again–and he is painfully aware that he is running out of time. LLH hasn’t exactly been subtle about only staying alive to find and bury SGD’s body, and now that they’ve accomplished that, he wants to make sure LLH doesn’t give up. Growing up in Di Fortress, DFS probably learned how to recognize what it looks like when people give up on life, and seeing those signs in LLH would explain some of the desperation behind his actions.

So, what does he do instead of trying to convince LLH the threat was a bluff? Here’s a gif of his response:

He swallows his disappointment at being thought a heartless killer–bowing his head again and shaking it, then looking up at the cave roof in exasperation–and takes a long, long inhale to collect himself and to quickly brainstorm a new plan. Once he’s figured it out, he says LXY’s name and launches into stage 2 of his plan to convince LLH to live: correcting the initial misunderstanding that first led LLH to not trust him anymore.

DFS tries to convince LLH that someone conspired against both of them a decade ago–the truth he thought LXY wouldn’t believe him about on the ship–because if that worked, then it would solve two problems: 1. LLH might believe him that he doesn’t want to kill him for the rematch if he knew he hadn’t had SGD killed, and 2. LLH would choose to stay alive to find SGD’s real killer and get revenge.

And when LLH doesn’t believe his initial attempt, he gives what is possibly his longest speech in the entire show detailing the evidence supporting his claim that they were both set up and offers to help him find the truth in exchange for their rematch. While he definitely does want a rematch, DFS mentions it here in part because LLH thinks it’s all he cares about; if he were to offer to help without requiring the fight, LLH would be less likely to believe him and even more suspicious of his claims, especially since LLH currently thinks DFS would kill him for said rematch.

But unfortunately, his plan for them to team up fails as he thought it would all those years ago, so he decides to play along with being the heartless villain LLH thinks he is, and it’s only then that he threatens to kill FDB (revealing FDB’s parentage in the process), because he knows that LLH would stay alive to protect FDB.

I have another 2000+ words worth of thoughts about his talk and fight with FDB–the way he tries to “kidnap” him first instead of fighting him, the way he looks miserable during the fight instead of enjoying it the way he did during the fight at QWM and XZJ’s wedding–but it will have to wait for another meta because this is already way too long as it is. The point, though, is that he’s not fighting FDB because he wants to or is enjoying hurting him: he actually hates every second of it and of performing the role of jianghu villain LLH has once again cast him in. But he’s doing it because he thinks it’s the only way to keep LLH alive.

These aren’t the actions of someone who just wants to sacrifice his old rival for a fight; they’re the actions of someone trying everything he can think of to keep the person he loves alive. It’s an incredibly convoluted way to show his care, but given that he’s desperate, out of time, and can’t get LLH to trust or believe him, it makes sense that he’d fall back on a reliable skillset that’s kept himself alive despite all the odds: bluffing, keeping his true goals a secret, adopting the mantle of villain, and letting himself be hated for things he hasn’t done.

With both the fight with FDB and with the yin leaves threat, DFS plays the villain to try to force LLH to live, because he’d rather LLH hate him and live than love him and die.

Because Di Feisheng has never wanted Li Xiangyi–or Li Lianhua–dead.

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qpjianghu · 11 months ago

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(...but what if I was?)

Li Lianhua / Li Xiangyi | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

#mysterious lotus casebook #li lianhua #li xiangyi #lhl #my mlc gifs #thanks to the folks who helped weigh in on that last gif!#specifically thank you to:#the-surreptitious-albatross #lianxiaojie #and an apology...#to our dear a-fei #for including him in this gifset #I still believe that the feihua relationship is one of the most devastating tragedies of this show #because of the way that di feisheng grows subtly but significantly over the course of the show #and he comes SO CLOSE to loving and accepting llh/lxy for who he is and who he always was #and maybe he in fact DOES get to this point internally #but his last words to llh are inviting him to fight him like times of old #showing (in llh's eyes at least) a regression to their previous selves #a “self” that maybe llh feels he never actually was #which is why I specifically wanted a feihua scene in that last gif to juxtapose with the more obvious shan gudao scene #the subtext of that feihua scene is very sexy of them (I am looking disrespectfully)#but the text of the scene is brutal and tragic:#as di feisheng violently lashes out at li lianua for his perceived weaknesses #and while llh's initial reaction was at most faintly irritated up until that point #you can see that spark of genuine hurt and sadness in his gaze as dfs holds him at arms length #anyway this has been “things about mlc that make me want to tear my hair out at 3AM”#thank you for coming to my ted talk

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bbcphile · 9 months ago

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WIP Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Have some more of LLH's POV, specifically, some lighthearted banter covering up some secrets and a whole lot of angst.

(You can find earlier excerpts here.)

Li Lianhua opened his eyes, refusing to meet either of the sets fixed on him, and tried to scrape together whatever remained of his dignity. He scratched a spot by his nose and cleared his throat. “I know you and Xiaobao like to fight, but don’t you think using my qi to blast him across the room is a touch excessive?”

A-Fei scoffed, an eye roll made audible. “He was being annoying.”

Li Lianhua tsk’d at him. “You really must learn to control your temper, Di-mengzhu. What kind of example are you setting for him?”

“Very funny,” Xiaobao said. Li Lianhua sneaked a look out of the corner of his eyes in time to watch that bright mock smile fade into an impressive pout. “As if we didn’t all know how impressive a-Fei’s rein on his temper is.”

Li Lianhua blinked at him. Xiaobao sounded almost offended on a-Fei’s behalf. What on Earth had happened while he’d been asleep that could have wrought a change like that? He risked a glance at a-Fei to see how he was taking it. It was hard to see with his vision this blurry, but a-Fei’s eyes looked slightly narrowed and from the set of his jaw, it looked like he was deliberately trying not to react. So either he was surprised, too, or he was looking for the catch.

“That is,” Xiaobao continued, a mischievous glint lighting up his face, “as long as it doesn’t involve doors.”

A-Fei rolled his eyes. “I didn’t have a key. And my arms were full.”

“That’s no reason to step on them! Twice! And right on the design!”

A-Fei shrugged. “It was in the way.”

“What doors? What design?” Li Lianhua asked, straining his eyes to try to bring any of the entrances to his home into focus. “My doors? But they don’t have locks!”

“They do now,” a-Fei muttered.

“Xiaobao? Care to explain?”

“I just didn’t want anyone to break in! I didn’t realize he’d blast it off its hinges instead!”

“Your lack of imagination is not my fault.”

“Hey!”

Li Lianhua rubbed at the bridge of his nose as though to ward off a headache and tried not to smile. It was a relief to have these two bicker again. “Alright, alright,” he said, waving a hand to dismiss the argument and trying and failing to suppress another smile as they instantly stopped to listen to him. “Just fix it later, alright, a-Fei?”

The atmosphere instantly changed. A-Fei’s expression became a neutral mask and Xiaobao’s eyes darted anxiously between a-Fei and Li Lianhua.

“I can do it,” Xiaobao said, plastering on an incredibly unconvincing smile. “I had started it earlier anyway, so I don’t mind finishing.”

Li Lianhua’s stomach sank. “And why exactly are you fixing it if Di-Mengzhu broke it? Shouldn’t he take responsibility?”

Xiaobao hesitated, glanced guiltily at a-Fei, then held his sword more tightly. “He was . . . busy. Keeping you warm while you both slept. So I volunteered.”

Li Lianhua’s heart began to race. Xiaobao had never taken on a-Fei’s chores before, not once in the months the three of them had lived together. If a-Fei had ever convinced Xiaobao to do so, he would have gloated about it. Insufferably. And for a-Fei to even consider sleeping while Xiaobao was still awake and moving about, something was very wrong.

Something that would have affected a-Fei’s health to such an extent that he needed to sleep in front of others and was too weak to repair a door.

He pushed his rising panic down, along with images of the the spiritual cave snakes, shriveled and dead from his poisonous blood, of Li Xiong, groaning and twitching in pain as Bicha coursed through his veins from receiving Yangzhouman, and pasted on his own innocent smile. “Really? So very generous of you, Xiaobao!”

Xiaobao’s answering grin was a touch too bright to be believable. “That’s me! Always ready to help.”

“Naturally,” he agreed, nodding. He waited until they both relaxed, until some of the suspicion lurking in a-Fei’s posture had waned. “And why exactly does a-Fei need help?”

A-Fei froze.

#mysterious lotus casebook #my fic #WIP Wednesday #lhl #lianhua lou #Li Lianhua #Di Feisheng #Fang Duobing #Difanghua #humor and angst #Special thanks to momosandlemonsoda for suggesting the excerpt #and to the-surreptitious-albatross for finding the twin's name

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bbcphile · 6 months ago

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Dihua Exchange 2024

Happy Dihua fic exchange, @exitvelocities! I had so much fun writing this for you, and I hope you enjoy it! (I tried to combine post-canon gross domesticity, sleeping arrangements, and fully recovered LLH.) Thanks for putting this exchange together, and happy reading!

Waning Marks and Dawning Realizations (3703 words) by bbcphile Fandom: 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) Rating: Mature Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Relationship: Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi Characters: Di FeishengLi Lianhua | Li Xiangyi Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Happy Ending, Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi Lives, Healed!Li Lianhua, fluff and humor with a dash of angst, Domestic, Banter, Nonverbal Communication, Cooking, Kissing, Making Out, Sharing a Bed, Banter as Foreplay, Tenderness, Scar Kissing, Donghai battle anniversary, get loved idiots

Summary: Twelve years, he thought, stroking his free hand along Xiangyi’s spine. Twelve years to the day. And two since the wedding room. They hadn’t celebrated last year, hadn’t even acknowledged it, beyond a silent toast to the moon and holding each other more tightly that night. There hadn’t been much to celebrate, not when it seemed likely that Xiangyi would be taken from him for a third and final time. But now? Now was different, no matter what the moonlight said. A.K.A. The anniversary fic where Di Feisheng tries to cook a surprise breakfast, Li Lianhua tries to prove just how healed he is, and they both keep tripping over the marks and scars the past had left behind.

(Special thanks to @momosandlemonsoda and @a-memory-a-distant-echo for the beta and to @evolutionsbedingt, @the-surreptitious-albatross, and @howdaretrashships for the cheerleading! <3)

#mysterious lotus casebook #dihuaexchange #exitvelocities #dihua #feihua #Di Feisheng #Li Lianhua #donghai battle anniversary #my fic

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bbcphile · 7 months ago

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Last Line tag game

Thanks to @yletylyf , @cheetahing, and @the-surreptitious-albatross for tagging me!

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like).

On Xiaobao’s fourth anxious circuit past the bed, Li Lianhua took pity on his floorboards. “Come on, sit down while we wait,” he said, patting the bed next to him, “before you wear a hole in the wood.”

Tagging @eirenical @howdaretrashships @momosandlemonsoda @xthelastknownsurvivorx @evolutionsbedingt @la-muerta @a-memory-a-distant-echo @peridot-tears @nutcasewithaknife @the-wintry-mizzenmast @thesilversun @athenasdragon @rose-tinted-vision @enbysaurus-rex @kingsandbastardz @wuxia-vanlifer and anyone else who wants to join in! (And no pressure if you don’t want to!)

#mysterious lotus casebook #li lianhua #fang duobing #tag game #yes I know this is two sentences but they really go well together #so I'm bending the rules a bit :D

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bbcphile · 7 months ago

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WIP Title Meme Answers (LLH's Plants)

Thanks for asking about my LLH's Plants reference/meta post for the WIP Title Meme, @fealiniel!

The short version is that, as far as I can tell, all of LLH's plants that we see in the Lotus Tower are vegetables rather than medicinal herbs. I have screenshots and IDs for them all (thanks to @eirenical and @the-surreptitious-albatross who both helped a lot!), and I have some thoughts about what this says about his approach to medicine vs using Yangzhouman, but I need to do more research into TCM to flesh that out. (I also want to read up on the various meals he serves and learn how they fit into the idea of food as medicine, re: nature/temperature, flavors/organ system associations, etc. to see if his bizarre meal creations are at all tied to that or if it's primarily because of his failing senses from Bicha (and/or because that's how his shifu cooked).

#mysterious lotus casebook #Li Lianhua #asks answered

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bbcphile · 1 year ago

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WIP Wednesday, Part 2

Thanks for the enthusiastic response to my previous WIP Wednesday post! This is the immediate continuation of my Mysterious Lotus Casebook Post-Beach Fic where Li Lianhua's Shiniang tried and failed to sacrifice herself to save him, and he's fled to the beach and collapsed. (Don't worry, the lotus trio will have a happy ending, ultimately!) Here's Fang Duobing's section! (Cw/tw: suicide attempt)

Despite chanting “please be alive” under his breath every second of the mad gallop to the donghai beach, Fang Duobing had dreaded but expected the scene the beggar had described to him: a slim, bedraggled corpse in a fur coat, tossed up by the waves.

Not the man himself, alive and standing, staring out to sea.

It was Li Lianhua. Fang Duobing knew that back by heart—how could he not, after all the times he’d watched Li Lianhua leave him behind—so somehow, that ridiculous man had done the impossible and brought one more person—himself this time—back from the dead.

He should have known. The beggar’s comment must have had more clues hidden in it than he had realized.

Well, it didn’t matter. As long as Li Lianhua was alive, he would not begrudge him the sleepless nights of searching, or nightmares about less positive outcomes. Not much, at least. Anyway, Lao Di would probably growl about it enough for the both of them.

And speaking of the devil of the jianghu, there he was, a streak of bright red tearing across the beach, his eyes fixed on Li Lianhua as though he’d disappear if he blinked. Wuyan must have sent the message about the beggar to him instantly for him to get here that fast.

Fang Duobing hopped off his horse moments behind Lao Di, Huli Jing trailing behind, tail happily wagging.

They were finally together again. All of them. And any minute now, Li Lianhua would turn around and greet them. He’d scratch that spot by his nose just under his eye, then fling a causal pointed finger at him, saying “Xiaobao, what took you so long? You call yourself a detective? Baichuan’s standards are really slipping,” a clear invitation to run over and hug their old fox and cry, or maybe just whack him on the arm several times for everything he put them through, or maybe both.

Oh, and Lao Di would definitely throw Shaoshi’s remains at Li Lianhua, and grumble something about how Li Xiangyi should be more careful with his own things.

And then, together, they’d all go back to the Lotus Tower.

Home.

And it would all begin any second now.

Fang Duobing waited.

Nothing changed.

Li Lianhua kept facing the sea.

What was happening? This didn’t make any sense. Had Li Lianhua not heard them arrive? They hadn’t exactly been quiet, what with yelling the horses onward while riding at full speed. Had Li Lianhua lost his hearing? Was he still poisoned?

Something was wrong. They shouldn’t just wait for him anymore, they had to do something, move towards him, call his name, anything but this—

–With a quiet rustle, the cloak fell to the ground. Li Lianhua took a step toward the waves.

“Li Lianhua?” Fang Duobing whispered, suddenly growing cold.

Time slowed.

Lao Di gathered his qi. Fang Duobing echoed him automatically.

Li Lianhua wavered, then crumpled toward the sand.

“XIAOHUA’ER!” Fang Duobing screamed. Lao Di grabbed his shoulder and yanked him, airborne, towards the water.

They caught him in their arms before his head hit the sand.

(Thanks to @slangerogkatter, @kingsandbastardz, @shamera, @sufficientlylargen, @the-surreptitious-albatross, and @howdaretrashships for looking at drafts of this and talking about it with me! Y'all are amazing! <3 )

#mysterious lotus casebook #mlc #mlc fic #lhl #lianhua lou #my fic #WIP Wednesday #Fang Duobing #Li Lianhua #Di Feisheng #Lotus trio #I was torn about whether to post this excerpt or the opening of DFS's section and this won out purely because it comes first #It didn't seem like a common thing to make two WIP Wednesday posts in one day so I'll prob wait to post DFS's opening section until next We #unless people want to see it early in which case I'd be happy to!#Just trying to follow Tumblr etiquette expectations :D #tw: suicide

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bbcphile · 1 year ago

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WIP Wednesday (MLC)

Happy WIP Wednesday! Today's excerpt from my Mysterious Lotus Casebook fic, in which LLH's shiniang tried and failed to sacrifice herself to cure him, is from LLH's POV.

He's finally awake, and he's getting called out on being a lying liar who lies (affectionate) (mostly).

To catch up–although it’s not necessary to follow this– you can follow these links to read part 1 (LLH), part 2 (FDB), part 3 (DFS), part 4 (DFS), or part 5 (FDB)

***

Li Lianhua dug a nail into his palm to try to focus on the pain and not let the memory show on his face. He nodded, took a deep breath to pretend he was collecting his words and not trying not to hyperventilate, and willed his voice to be steady. There was nothing he could do about his spiking heart rate, but the only person who could feel that was him. “Ah, about that. There was another villain I had to stop. I disappeared to lure him out of hiding. But don’t worry, I taught him a lesson. He definitely won’t live to cause more problems.”

Next to him, a-Fei went as still as a statue. Was he even breathing? Why–

“–Nice try, but that doesn’t make any sense or answer the questions,” Xiaobao said, arms crossed over his chest. “Why would pretending to be dead lure him out? And you didn’t have any qi left, so how could you fight him on your own? Why would you even try? Didn’t we do a good job of protecting you over the last year? Why wouldn’t you let us try this time?”

Li Lianhua’s treacherous pulse spiked again. At least, in a certain light, this answer had a sheen of truth to it. “I didn’t want to get you involved. There are some enemies that you can’t fight.” Death, for instance.

“Bullshit,” Xiaobao spat. “I don’t care if it’s Bicha poisoning, another political conspiracy, a long-lost enemy come back to life, or the emperor himself: we’re in this together, no matter the risk. So stop trying to face everything alone, and just let us help, alright?” He paused, his eyes shining with tears. “Please, Li Lianhua?”

His own eyes threatened rain and he blinked repeatedly to clear them. This ridiculous child. “Ah, Xiaobao. Not everything can be solved by willpower and swords.”

Xiaobao set his jaw, his face darkening like an eclipse. “Watch me.”

Li Lianhua huffed out a laugh. How did Xiaobao have enough heart and stubbornness for five people put together? “Alright, alright,” he said, leaning forward to pat his hand before he did something unforgivable like agreeing to stay. “Consider your shifu suitably lectured.” Xiaobao’s hardened expression crumbled into ashes and he slumped. “He’s hiding something,” he said, turning to a-Fei, tears in his voice and on his face. “He only calls himself my shifu if he’s lying or saying goodbye. Or both.”

“Wh-what?” Li Lianhua managed, his heart rate racing, “I don’t – that’s not–”

“–I know,” a-Fei said, his voice . . . shaking? What was happening?

“You try, then,” Xiaobao said, wiping his face with an angry flick of his hand. He grabbed Erya from his lap and crossed his arms over his chest, hugging his sword to his heart.

(Thanks to @the-surreptitious-albatross and @momosandlemonsoda for helping me figure out which excerpt to include!)

#mysterious lotus casebook #mlc fic #lhl #lianhua lou #Li Lianhua #Li Xiangyi #Fang Duobing #Di Feisheng #wip wednesday

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bbcphile · 9 months ago

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For the fan fic writer asks : 11 or 17 ?

Thanks for the ask, @the-surreptitious-albatross!! I just answered 17 here, so I'll do the other one!

11. Do you have specific playlists for writing fics?

I used to! Part of the prep for writing used to be to find songs that would cover the emotions and growth of the whole fic (for multi-chaptered ones); at least, that's what I did for Harboured and Encompassed.

But I haven't been able to find songs that have really worked for that for What's Sealed Away" or my untitled MLC long fic, so I've mainly been doing things that help me focus and get out of my own way long enough to write. So currently, that means using Tabletop Audio's "Age of Sail" tall ship sounds simulator (😅) and Spotify's "Deep Focus" playlist. :D

But, since you've read the first 50k of the long fic and have excellent taste in music, let me know if you can think of any songs that feel suitable to the vibe thus far! :D

#mysterious lotus casebook #about me #ask meme

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bbcphile · 1 year ago

Text

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Thanks for the tag, @eirenical!

3 Ships You Like: Only 3?! Decisions decisions! Well, Feihua (and difanghua) have to be included, obviously, and I guess Wangxian should be there, too. I can’t decide who to list for the 3rd spot, so here are the main contenders: Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy (and also with William Bush), Hualian, and Weilan.

First Ship Ever: I was weirdly late to shipping, or at least contemporary pop culture shipping? I was pretty invested in Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy and also Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars in middle school, but it didn’t really devour my brain the way ships do now. Honestly, I think it was Horatio Hornblower and Archie Kennedy back in college, although it took some friends explaining to me why they read it as romantic (laughing and smh at past!me), and a rewatch of the entire series wearing my new shipping goggles for me to go “OH!” like they do in fic, lol. I didn’t get into fic until much later (thanks, @bifilthatonthatseson!)

Last Song You Heard: Heather Dale’s “The Hunter” has been playing on loop in my head since I woke up this morning, but I just put on The Amazing Devil’s “Inkpot Gods,” so I guess I’ll list both. :D

Favourite Childhood Book: I passionately loved the Ramona Quimby books when I was little, but I don’t really remember anything about them anymore, and Matilda was probably the other most important kid’s book for me growing up. (It all felt very relatable to young me, and I kept waiting for my powers to come in. Pity it doesn’t work like that!) If YA books read in adulthood count, I’d have to say the Song of the Lioness series; I read it in grad school (thanks for this, too, @bifilthatonthatseson) and it rewired my brain in INCREDIBLY important ways.

Currently Reading: I’m in between books right now, but I most recently finished Freya Marske’s A Power Unbound (volume 3 of the “Last Binding” Trilogy) and it was INCREDIBLE. Next up is Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow, which I’m very excited about.

Currently watching: I’m in the middle of The Lost Tomb 2; I temporarily petered out because it’s been awhile since Wu Xie and Xiaoge were in the same scene and I am very much watching it for them (and Xiaohua, who also hasn’t been on screen in awhile), but I’m going to go back to it soon. Other than that, I’m rewatching “I am Nobody” with @sufficientlylargen, “The Untamed” with @sufficientlylargen, @loryer496 and another non-Tumblr friend, “Destined” with @fionatlux and a different non-Tumblr friend, and watching “Luoyang” for the first time with the latter non-Tumblr friend. :D

Currently consuming: Nothing atm, but I’m about to make some of the lavender tea that @slangerogkatter recommended! It’s very good!

Currently craving: Bubble tea and a croissant. (But tragically, I’m not near any gluten-free bakeries, so no croissant for me! I could probably do something about the bubble tea, though!)

Tagging:

@the-surreptitious-albatross @howdaretrashships @momosandlemonsoda @enbysaurus-rex @wuxia-vanlifer @thesilversun @fealiniel @nutcasewithaknife @helendamnationx

(But no pressure if you don't want to do it! Also, anyone who wants to should consider themselves tagged!)

#about me

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bbcphile · 1 year ago

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For the fic writers ask meme: 17 and/or 37

Thanks for the asks, @the-surreptitious-albatross , and sorry it has taken me some time to respond!

17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

I usually write the scenes in order, from start to finish. The closest I come to doing things out of order is that sometimes I will jump ahead and do a detailed outline of a later chapter if I think of ways I want it to be in conversation with an earlier one (eg. if there are interesting parallelism, or thematic commonalities), and often my outlines start with bullet points and then end up basically being very rough drafts, complete with pages of dialogue and the emotional beats or notes on where to add descriptions. And I guess with my current long MLC fic, I wrote a few drafts of the first few chapters, then did 15k of outlines/incredibly rough drafts for later chapters, and then the other day realized what was bugging me about how I had written the first chapter, so I went back and completely rewrote it. So I guess in that regard, I jump around, because I might go back and totally reconceive of a chapter based on something I want to do with character development later. (This is why I don’t post fics on AO3 until they’re done; I do a truly absurd amount of rewriting.)

37: Talk about your current wips.

I’m honored that you want to hear about it! I actually have 4 for Mysterious Lotus Casebook fics (3 with absurdly detailed outlines, but only one that I’m actively drafting), so for now, I’ll just talk about the one I’ve worked the most on.

Post-canon (OT3) Beach fic:

tw/cw: suicide attempt, off-page non-consensual medical procedure

When Li Lianhua’s shiniang tried and failed to sacrifice herself to save Li Lianhua against his will, he fled to the Donghai beach, intending to die before she could catch up with him because he can’t endure the idea that someone else he cared about might die for him. Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing find him first and save his life for the moment, but are horrified to discover the truth that Li Lianhua can’t lie his way out of: that the damage from the survivor’s guilt of everything he’s been through is just as dangerous as the damage from Bicha poisoning. With each of them reeling from the traumas of the past year (Li Lianhua from Shan Gudao’s betrayal and now medical PTSD from his shiniang’s procedure, Fang Duobing from almost losing Li Lianhua and being terrified to let him out of his sight in case he goes straight back to the water, and Di Feisheng from the abuse at the hands of Jiao Liqiao), they have to figure out how to face everything they pushed aside to save the country, and in the process, learn that the hardest battles aren’t fought with swords.

To read an excerpt, follow this link: (x)

I was going to write up synopses for the others, but I’m out of energy (and don’t want to sit on this ask for another week or so to write them out), so I’ll just do quick teaser/keyword summaries for the others:

Missing Scene Fic: Di Feisheng’s first night in Lotus Tower (featuring him finding the Yinzhou armor being used as a potholder, his feelings on having his meridians and qi blocked, and helping LLH after a nightmare so it doesn’t wake up FDB and give away his identity.)

Pre-Canon: Yinzhou armor backstory, Sigu sect waterfall spars, and LXY/DFS first time; set the evening after Shan Gudao resigned from the Sigu Sect

5+1: FDB and DFS sharing the Lotus Tower guest bed (from FDB’s POV, covering the entire show + post canon)

#mysterious lotus casebook #mlc fic #Li Lianhua #Di Feisheng #Fang Duobing #my fic #ask meme

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