#well I better watch some mxtx

[lady-ca-13]

I made this drawing a few months ago but Happy Valentine's Day loved me too I'm single lonely person anyway any side of that Happy Valentine's everybody

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Since MXTX said HuaLian live until the modern times, have some random headcanons:

Hua Cheng keeps being an interior decorating king so of course his and Xie Lian's home is tastefully decorated for every season and holiday. However, that doesn't stop Xie Lian from occasionally adding the fugliest item ever because he got emotionally attached to it in the store. "It was all by itself, San Lang, nobody wanted it... i know what that feels like better than anyone..." and now they're both sniffling holding an ugly styrofoam pumpkin in the middle of the fall decor isle of Ikea.

The stray animals food budget is off the charts but it's nobody's fault all strays are immediately drawn to Xie Lian and he has to feed them cause he "knows what it's like to be hungry". This does not just include cats and dogs but also rats, raccoons, several bird species and at least one coyote.

Speaking of budgets, the financial control authorities are lowkey on Hua Cheng's case because he is still stinking rich but nobody knows where the cash is coming from. They think Ghost City is the name of some shady mafia establishment and are trying to find dirt on Hua Cheng but there is literally nothing there and it eats the government alive.

Xie Lian occasionally dumpster dives in places where he knows they throw perfectly salvageable things. Hua Cheng cries every time it happens but he stands watch so the police doesn't arrest his husband for it.

In the same vein, Xie Lian insists on recycling literally everything. They have those different colored trash bins and everything, and every time Hua Cheng places an item in the wrong bin, Xie Lian gives him a disapproving look that has the ghost king crumble.

They have so many house plants. It's like a little jungle in their living room but the air is so crisp.

They keep several scrapbooks of paintings, pictures, letters etc from all the people they met to remember them even hundreds or thousands of years after those people have passed away. Even if they now have access to phones and other media for storage, they keep up the tradition of using scrapbooks and notebooks anyway.

Xie Lian is actually up to date with memes and internet slang but has embraced being a cringe Facebook grandpa and is now committed to the persona. Hua Cheng finds this hilarious (he runs a very well maintained beauty channel and a side channel on swords where Xie Lian features in every video and geeks out about their sword collection. They have a golden button and a very large following).

Hua Cheng has a 25 step skincare routine and only uses the fanciest brands of products for literally everything. Xie Lian still swears by 8 in 1 shampoo and somehow has clearer skin. Hua Cheng is both enamored and scandalized about it.

Hua Cheng is a very big fan of acryllics and lets Xie Lian pick the base color every time. Xie Lian takes this task very, very seriously and tries to coordinate it with any activities/events they have planned so Hua Cheng stays being stylish.

Hua Cheng has a portable Dyson Airwrap with him at all times because one time a kid said his hair looks like a wet dog.

Xie Lian is not allowed to get a job because every time he tried to along the decades he became a cautionary tale somehow.

[pentapoda]

Well, i am writing fic again. Because i can apparently spend years lurking in mxtx proximal fandoms (shen yuan i love u), then a full year watching vox machina and then critical role campaign 1 and campaign 2, devouring all the caleb fic i can find and still not feel the energy to participate in the fandom. then be like no, no, this silly blue man and very serious tiny man with his violence ballet, this is where i have something to contribute (read, "someone did the au where the coinflip went the other way, right, right? huh i guess not, haha wouldn't it be funny if--")

???

Anyway it has been one month, i have written 25k, probably 15k to go, there is a Google slides doc with a diagram of the silken squall (its a giant kite, btw) and a map of the continent of marquet with to-scale color-coded annotations of each group's location and distance traveled by day, i have rolled stats for dorians parents (sorry dadvernwind, please have some extra guards, you need them), i made a ppt chart comparing parentvernwinds to the party's stats (y axis: win hearts [wis+cha], x axis: win fights [str + dex + con], bubble size: hit points) , i have a spreadsheet with the silken squall's land use and wealth distribution, ashton wants to know why he's so stressed when he's not even in the main pairing (jokes on him though he got to talk to dorian's mom twice and she threw out my arranged marriage subplot, look she says to me there's a marriageable young genasi right here who knows how to protect his own, they bonded over protective violence guys, ashton didn't notice), bell's hells sucked so bad at Orym's resurrection ritual i thought he might actually just stay dead, i had to go back and just let fearne lie,i gave the squall griffins to solve a travel-speed issue and now dorian's bitchy neglected griffin is the star of the last third of this fic, Imogen has emerged from the wings to live the horse girl movie she always wanted, and orym and dorian have not yet shared a scene together but i swear its happening soon

haven't written complete fic (not just a story set up) or anything longer than 10k since jan 2016 so.... this is good... tentatively optimistic here...

in conclusion:

(fcg isn't on there because the fic has bigger parts for orym, dorian, ashton, & fearne, but then i added laudna & imogen to make dorian's dad look better. ...it didn't work. XD)

[mxtxfanatic]

Book of the Week: The Villain has Something to Say

Author: Mo Chen Huan (莫晨欢)

Genre: cultivation, rebirth, transmigration, danmei

Rating: E

My Synopsis: If you’ve ever thought to yourself “man, I wish wwx really had killed all those annoying cultivators at Nightless City,” then boy do I have a book for you! A mix between 2ha’s Mo Ran and mdzs’s Wei Wuxian, main character Luo Jianqing has double the trauma and double the hate as the heavens’ literal least favorite child: the villain! Watch as he defies fate by being reborn, immediately scheming to kill the transmigrator protagonist (the heavens’ actual favorite child), and trying to uncover what went so wrong in his first life as to cause his shizun and secret crush, Xuan Lingzi, to sign off on his death.

My Actual Review: Ok, so usually I absolutely hate when I read reviews that compare random danmei novels to mxtx works as a selling point, but Luo Jianqing really does give Wei Wuxian vibes in how charismatic he is, his personality, and his behavior around Xuan Lingzi, once they get together. Before that, though, he gives a lot of Mo Ran 1.0 as he tries to deal with the hurt of betrayal in the face of his shizun who he thinks hates him but also would obviously not remember said betrayal since it, for all intents and purposes, never happened. Despite all this, though, Luo Jianqing still feels like a unique character, and the story develops into a unique plot where the characters are trying, for the sake of the fate of the world, to rebel against the will of the heavens that has decided that only one (1) person deserves the entirety of all the good fortune in their entire reality, past and present.

I’m adding some content warnings for: grooming (maybe???), incest (maybe???), attempted sexual assault, and some slight dubcon between the main couple due to an aphrodisiac that doesn’t go all the way. However—and I say this knowing full well that it probably won’t make sense if you haven’t read the book—the first two content warnings for this book don’t really have… content? For instance, yes there is incest in the book, but it consists of a character constantly mentioning it to make the main pairing feel better about their “incestuous” shizun-disciple relationship. When you meet said incestuous characters, nothing about their interactions connote a romantic or sexual relationship. The incest reference could be removed and nothing about the story would change. Same about the grooming: for most of the story, we go into detail about how Luo Jianqing was raised by another disciple—which is vital information about his relationship with said disciple—the main pairing don’t get together until he’s 50, and before that, their relationship is completely chaste as far as we’ve seen. But then the author throws a random curveball near the end about the LI being in love with him “from before” he was 17. There is no character conversation about this. It is referenced nowhere else ever again. It could be wholly removed from the story and nothing would change. Take from that what you will.

Pretty sure the translation I read—though complete—was an mtl. Everything was still understandable, and I was able to get through it while still enjoying the plot and characters, but the constant grammar mistakes were annoying.

Translation: incomplete but currently updating

[not-poignant]

Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than het romance? What makes them better? I did not mean anything negative, and I know everyone have their own like and dislike but I want to know your thoughts....

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (BL manga/manhwa/manhua/ danmei) romances better than western MLM romances?

Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than het romance?

Because I had no choice for many years.

Because that choice was taken away from me by a homophobic, transphobic, queerphobic, acephobic society. So all the romances I read had to be heterosexual, all the romances I watched had to be heterosexual, all the romances I heard of had to be heterosexual.

Because I'm not heterosexual.

Because I never saw myself represented in any stories ever, for over about 20 years (queer stuff existed, but where I was situated in Perth, Western Australia, meant that I was not seeing it).

Because I was force-fed allonormative, heteronormative, heterosexual tropes, bullshit, toxicity, misogyny, patriarchal culture, rape culture and more, and because everyone assumed that was normal, which made me feel isolated, marginalised, alone, and bereft, and cut me out of knowing what a life could look like for myself, and made relationships harder, when you don't have the words or stories to latch onto.

People like me couldn't even be erased out of the media, we hardly existed in the media, and if we did, almost never under our real identities, and almost always having to pretend to be something we weren't, for many people who hated us, or wished we were dead, or simply didn't care about us at all.

So, when I finally got a choice, I made a choice.

And I do not want to read heterosexual content anymore, unless it's queer (like T4T). The only place I actually willingly consume heterosexual romantic content these days is like 80s and 90s and early 00s romantic comedies. It's the only thing I allow through my filter, because so many of them have a really strong bent of hurt/comfort in them, and it's rare to find movies that have this in general.

But yeah otherwise het is just not a thing I look for in fiction. Literally a squick. Literally reminds me of 20 years of oppression in the mass media. It's not inherently bad, it just wasn't good for me personally, to never have a choice.

So I made one :D And my life has been so much better for it. I'm never going back.

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (BL manga/manhwa/manhua/ danmei) romances better than western MLM romances?

It's just better for me, anon! I find a lot of western published m/m (so not like m/m fanfiction which I still read) often feels stifled and too short for me, and the characterisation doesn't get as deep as I want it to get. I often can feel the rigidity of the novel structure on authors who are trying to rapid release, and the depth I'm looking for is rarely there. Sometimes that's what people want! Sometimes they don't know there's other options!

Sometimes that's true of some BL manga/manhua/manhwa etc. as well. Tbh it's probably true of a lot of it! Serial format doesn't always allow for depth either. But I find the visual format easier to read as well. If I reread western m/m it's almost always fanfiction. And tbh, I'm sure some amazing m/m was published last year, I just get tired of having to wade through it all to find something I like. It got to the point where I was reading like 60+ titles just to find one average read, and I gave up.

The recommendation systems for BL tend to be better and more on point for me, I find most people who recommend published m/m to me generally always miss the mark (which isn't their fault - I'm particular, there's a reason I write what I write - because I can't find it to read!!), but close friends like @morbidlizard who recommend BL to me almost always hit the mark!

I don't actually read much danmei, but mostly because I haven't had time to really sink my teeth into it. Aside from MXTX, I haven't explored much further.

But yeah, hope that helps! :D

[letteredlettered]

Lemme just talk for a second about the scene where Xie Lian gets murdered over and over again in his temple on his altar.

Specifically, the paragraph of "it hurts it hurts it hurts" over and over. Usually, I would say that just repeating the same thing over and over for emphasis is not going to make your point. Repetition dulls after about three times. Even reading that scene, my eyes skipped over that paragraph because I could see it was the same thing over and over again.

But you know what's crazy, it did a job and it did it differently and imo better than a lot of scenes like that I've read. Because how do you write about something endlessly being tortured so extremely? One technique is to just talk for a while about how painful it is avoiding exact repetition, but the truth is that this gets repetitive too. A reader can only take so much pain and suffering; after that, it doesn't feel like pain anymore. It feels like bad writing.

Another method, which is I think what you would more commonly see in a "well-written" torture scene and the method I myself would usually employ to write such a thing, is disassociation. We've all heard of or experienced a pain that hurts so bad you almost can't experience it anymore; you can't process; your brain goes to another place because the nerves overload it with too much info. So, the way these scenes are often written is that the person is suddenly outside of their body, watching it happen, or they are suddenly in a memory of a different time, or even the narrator just jumps elsewhere so that when the narrator returns to the immediacy of the pain the viewpoint character is experiencing, everything is sharp again.

MXTX...did not do that. And I think what comes across is that Xie Lian cannot do that. He's trying to get beyond "it hurts it hurts it hurts," to go to some other place in his brain, and he can't escape. The panic of him not being able to escape that temple, that altar, or even that moment in his own mind creates this kind of claustrophobia in which you really do have to experience every. single. sword.

And of course, this is Xie Lian's whole problem ("problem"). He was that he was not able to take a step back. He was not able to remain uninvolved. He had to try to solve every single issue. He had to take every. single. sword.

And he is only able to disassociate when he is completely broken, when he tries to kill himself and can't; his disassociation is so ultimate and almost complete that he becomes someone else entirely. He becomes White No-Face.

And what's wild about Xie Lian is that after he comes back to himself, he knows how to compartmentalize. He knows that it's possible to stop feeling pain. He knows that it's possible to put away hurt and replace it with something else. But Xie Lian chooses not to do that. For Xie Lian, every single sword hurts less than feeling nothing at all.

[thistle--bug]

I ramble about the Untamed

I just finished watching the Untamed with my sister (it took roughly 3 months lol) and I just wanted to write down a barely coherent collection of thoughts I had about it

This was my first c-drama actually! I feel like I started with the finest one

When I started, I thought "how could you possibly need FIFTY episodes for this story?" and as it went on I kept thinking "how can this take ONLY fifty episodes?". Still now I think they could've used a few more episodes to flesh out some arcs better and the last arc did feel a little rushed

Although I get what happened and where it was left at worked for the story, we were ROBBED of more Husaisang content. I want to see him do necromancy and be clever!

The juniors were genuinely the BEST addition to the story. Not only did it let us see how Lan Zhan was bringing about the future of his clan and raising them with less restrictions, but they were just so cute. They helped the old stubborn cultivators accept change and trust Wei Wuxian more as well! And of course I adore Jin Ling. His relationship with Jiang Cheng may not be the typical sweet and warm uncle-nephew relationship but there is so much love and care there. Jiang Cheng may disguise his care as anger, but because Jin Ling is the same way he sees through it. He tells Wei Wuxian immediately that Jiang Cheng would never hurt him, even if he promises to break his knees every day.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan have the central romantic relationship, sure, but the show writes every relationship with care and importance. Friendships like Wei Wuxian's and Wen Ning's are extremely important, as well as familial ones like Wei Wuxian and his Yunmeng siblings. With that, I think the sibling relationships are done exceedingly well. They are loving but complex and turbulent. Like I don't know any personal details but I bet you that MXTX has siblings 100%.

Honestly my favorite dynamics were Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, the three sworn brothers (they FASCINATE ME), the whole messy ass Xueyang trio, and Wei Wuxian with the Wen siblings

Is Jin Ling leader now? I hope not, he's too young!

Obviously Jiang Cheng is my favorite. This man can't express any emotion in a healthy way to save his life and I, for one, find it endearing. I don't understand how people genuinely dislike his, especially considering how he was 18-19 when he became leader like.... do you realize how young that is and what that does to someone!!! Anyways, yeah, I don't care, I support his every action even when he's being a bitch

I wasn't expecting him to become so important tbh but I really adore Lan Xichen. He's genuinely the kindest. He is Wangxian's #1 wingman, even when they both threaten the image of his entire clan that he leads. He extends nothing but pure kindness towards Jin Guangyao even when he was at his lowest rank. Sure, his trust may have been his downfall at the end, but I admire him for it all the same

You know who else I admire a lot? JIANG YANLI!!!! Her blind 100% complete trust for Wei Wuxian even at his very worst moments is so commendable and I adore her for it. He NEEDED that

The music in this show is so damn good. Both the score and the character theme songs! My favorites have to be Wei Wuxian, Xueyang and Jiang Cheng's theme songs, because the voices are so pretty! And Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's actors sang it themselves too :)

While it has a huge sprawling story, the actual message they tell over and over is quite simple: Kindness is essential. Like, we are given characters like Xueyang and Jin Guangyao that had a similar childhood to Wei Wuxian. Without a parent, abandoned, poor, and looked down upon because of their low status. The reason Wei Wuxian grew up to be a good person is because over and over again, he was treated kindly. Jiang Fengmian brought him into his family and he had siblings that adored him. Jin Guangyao and Xueyang weren't given that kindness and therefore weren't able to give any of it out either.

The golden core transfer reveal was so well done. I knew what had happened but I was SO curious how Jiang Cheng would finally find out. Bless Wen Ning for spilling everyone's tea lol. The way Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan both had flashbacks to moments where Wei Wuxian was seemingly arrogant made them look cruel now. Everyone acted that scene out so WELL

I appreciate the efforts to push against censorship as much as possible. The actors added their own little flavor, small details like Wangxian bowing thrice as married couples do in front of ancestors, framing of certain scenes, and more...

The pacing and set up of this show were done really well! I think starting us out with the post-death Wei Wuxian era worked out so well because we knew some huge details of what had happened, but it left me itching and burning with the need to know how all this could possibly unfold and it really kept my attention the whole time

the distinct architecture and scenery of each clan was so beautiful!

Although I got truly hooked a little later on, I am so fond of the simple times of the Cloud Recesses. They were so young and carefree and that's the only time we really got Huaisang and Wuxian bestie time (which I really miss)

Okay I think that's all I got for now. This show unleashed the unbridled love and obsession for a piece of media I haven't felt in a while

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

It’s funny that ‘tiger moms’ are viewed as such a default thing when they’re very much tied to the whole ‘China just came out of the century of humiliation, the civil war, the cultural revolution, life sucks but if you work hard you can get a better life’; it’s why it’s so common in diaspora/immigrant families. If you’re rich, chinese parents tend to be pretty lax as long as you’re not an absolute embarrassment.

Also the stuff people are complaining about in mxtx writing is funny because like most of that is just normal cn writing stuff. Truly people need to watch more cdramas than cql

It's so tiring to see this as some major default when it's very much a generational thing. And why die on this hill of normalizing fictional abusive adults with this take when the novel is reiterating the exact opposite

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

And as you said this is all very common material in cdramas or any other cmedia. There are entire warnings about CP materials and only featuring said canon CP's for such things because the fans do not pay to see side pairs they want the canon ones and what is expected. Just look at the mess of romance gatchas and the uproar if devs even hint of a side character with a main from a CP. As well as the reason as to why the Untamed got what it got and had been an out of the norm production the fans fought to get.

For all the complaints of tags, web novels have those in order for readers to find what they want and don't want for original publications. You get what you get upfront and if you want love triangles, side ships it will be upfront with that, if you bother to look yourself and I dunno... bother to navigate a novel site yourself for once?

But ahhhh so many rants with some of this and the supposed fandom etiquette that just is not the same as the western sphere and shouldn't have to be because it's not from that base to begin with and authors shouldn't have to cater to American fanbase expectations.

[i-cast-zone-of-truth]

Auti’s Highly Personal and Very Anglophone Guide to the Best Danmei They Have Read (+ One That They Haven’t But Is Too Popular Not to Mention) With An Eye to Newcomers to the Genre

All the best danmei i’ve read, and some i don’t personally like but is very popular, rated for: Length, Plot Convolutions, Sicko Appeal, Melodrama, and Availability. (sicko appeal is a tongue in cheek reference to kinkiness/elements often enjoyed kinkily). I’ve put an asterisk by the beginning of ones i think are good for beginners. Recommended to google the terms wuxia and xianxia, and to think/learn a bit about cultural christianity and its assumptions.

MXTX (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu)

*– Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) THE most known danmei to English speakers! Class, revenge, reputation, resurrection, necromancy, what it actually means and costs to live by the principles everyone is espousing. Carefree, oblivious rule-breaker x burdened, all-too-aware rule-follower. I wouldn’t say it’s far and away better than all other danmei, but if one has to be the most popular, it's a good candidate. Also has newbie support from bilingual meta on tumblr; a good first choice for that reason (eg tumblr user hunxi-guilai. Does not want to be taken as an authority; use their meta as a starting point not an end point). (xianxia-like)

Length: Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Moderate

Sicko Appeal: Low (you would think; fandom is pretty toxic about it anyway)

Melodrama: Moderate

Availability: Easy to pay for a copy; check your library

The drama is very good on its own merits, but I think best watched with some understanding of what they were not allowed to show. It’s easy to fill in the blanks on the queer narrative; less so the censored necromancy. 

*–Scumbag Villain’s Self Saving System (SVSSS) Isekai for writers who hate isekai; protagonist/reader, teacher/student, demon lord/sickly dude: all the same pairing. Here to complicate your power dynamic assumptions. Above all, a book for writers. Its uniqueness might give you skewed expectations for other danmei if you read it first, but it’s accessible. (xianxia-like; even lighter on worldbuilding than most).

Length: Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Low

Sicko Appeal: Moderate

Melodrama: Low-to-Moderate, depending on how the humor strikes you

Availability: Easy to pay for a copy; check your library

*–Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) The slow motion train wreck of privileged idealism meeting real world cruelty. Guy crushed by life determined to want nothing x Guy angry at life determined to give him everything. Written after censorship was tightened on the publishing site; no actual explicit content (many euphemisms, many kisses). Still very worthwhile. (xianxia-like; with gods and ghosts as more prominent characters than usual)

Length: Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Moderate

Sicko Appeal: Low

Melodrama: Moderate (on average)

Availability: Easy to pay for a copy; check your library

Priest (pls note I don’t personally enjoy Priest novels very much, if my descriptions seem unenthusiastic. But the consensus is that these are very good books, and I can tell they’re made well. Idk if it’s something I’m missing or what). Priest has written several more novels I’m not familiar with, also, including Faraway Wanderers, the novel the drama “Word of Honor” is based on.

*–Guardian Contender for most-widely-beloved danmei by English speakers! Reincarnation, sunshine bi/ stoic gay, secrets for their own good, slow burn, monster of the week. Modern setting (partially). Haven’t finished, can’t truly rate. However, as far as I can tell:

Length: Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Moderate

Sicko Appeal: Low

Melodrama: Moderate

Availability: Easy to pay for a copy; check your library

Has a drama that is also well-beloved (and censored in the usual way).

–Stars of Chaos (SPL) Historical steampunk-like; teacher/student-ish (both more and less so than SVSSS; more of a traditional wuxia teacher/student relationship (so, more distant), but messy about it). Few if any actually-supernatural elements. 

Length: Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Low

Sicko Appeal: Low

Melodrama: Low-to-Moderate

Availability: easy to pay for a copy (will be fully published in English by Feb 2025)

-Lord Seventh Honestly this one eviscerated me so thoroughly I can barely tell you what it’s about. Protagonist is reincarnated for a seventh time, with another chance to make things right. Lots of politics. Heartbreaking. Idk man. Technically a prequel to Faraway Wanderers, reads like a standalone. (historical, no supernatural elements)

Length: idk

Plot Convolutions: Low

Sicko Appeal: idk man i’m too sad to be a sicko about this

Melodrama: does this count as melodrama??

Availability: can be read for free online; not sure if it’s been bought for official English publication.

Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat (Meatbun) 

*–The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/Erha) My personal all-time favorite danmei. Bloodthirsty tyrant who gets a chance to live his life over x extremely repressed teacher who couldn’t stop him in their first life. The life-destroying power of poverty; the wonders of good dick. The most mouthwatering descriptions of food you’ve ever read in your life; smut that will make you cry. The meaning of kindness; the horrors of mob mentality. 2ha has it all. Strong argument for writing whatever the hell you want. Noncon figures prominently. (xianxia-like)

Length: Long

Plot Convolutions: High

Sicko Appeal: High

Melodrama: High

Availability: easy to pay for a copy (will be fully published in English by July 8, 2025)

*–Remnants of Filth (Yuwu) Same amount of angst as 2ha in a smaller package. Traitor former general with reduced mental capacity x betrayed former fellow-soldier / ex-lover who must take care of him until his state execution. Side characters are even more painful. (historical-like with xianxia elements)

Length: Short-to-Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Moderate

Sicko Appeal: Moderate

Melodrama: High

Availability: easy to pay for a copy (will be fully published in English May 2025)

–Case File Compendium (CFC/BAB) Also very good, although she lost me in the last chapter with a character choice I couldn’t get over. Psychiatrist x former patient with a supernatural disease. Not student/teacher, but giving student/teacher. Noncon figures prominently. (modern setting)

Length: Moderate-to-Long

Plot Convolutions: Moderate

Sicko Appeal: High

Melodrama: High

Availability: easy to pay for a copy (fully published in English June 2025)

Other Authors:

Mu Su Li: Copper Coins: Disabled dragon on a quest for healing and revenge x withdrawn monk roped into helping him. Lyrical; most effective sense of place of all the danmei I’ve read. (wuxia-like vibes; possibly more xianxia-like, technically).

Length: Short

Plot Convolutions: Low

Sicko Appeal: Low

Melodrama: Low

Availability: still free to read online; will be taken down for official publishing at some point.

Feng Yu Nie: Mistakenly Saving the Villain: isekai’d terminally-ill medical student from modern era x deeply traumatized and malicious former cultivator. Extensive discussion of past sexual abuse. Seemingly wandering narrative, very psychological in focus. Even if you’re deep in and think you know where this is going, it still has surprises for you. (not actually very isekai; xianxia-like)

Length: Long

Plot Convolutions: Moderate

Sicko Appeal: Moderate

Melodrama: Moderate

Availability: Still free to read online; some people have an annoying time. You have to go through a discord to get access. Wasn’t onerous for me. Will be taken down for official publishing at some point.

Meng Xi Shi: Thousand Autumns (Qian Qiu): another one I personally did not enjoy, although I read most of it and can tell it’s well done. Spiritual good guy x famous and powerful bad guy who’s allergic to respecting boundaries. (I didn’t like how their dynamic seemed static). Very evocative, interesting world. (wuxia-like).

Length: Moderate

Plot Convolutions: Low

Sicko Appeal: generally low, but high for the relationship dynamic

Melodrama: ?? I’m the wrong person to ask

Availability: Easy to pay for a copy; check your library

Cang Wu Bin Bai: Golden Stage: the guy who broke your heart got his just comeuppance; now the emperor has ordered you to marry him??? Creeps up on you; you think everything’s chill and then you’re crying over a goose. Check and mate. (historical; no supernatural elements). 

Length: honestly I don’t remember. Probably moderate

Plot Convolutions: Low

Sicko Appeal: Low

Melodrama: Low, but higher than you’d think

Availability: still free to read online; will be taken down for official publishing at some point.

There are more widely-beloved titles I haven’t yet read, such as The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, by Xue Shan Fei Hu. I mention this also to warn you not to take novels with such titles lightly. They are meant to get you to relax your guard (or at least have had that effect on me).

[absolutesilly]

What do you think about the writing of female characters in tgcf? There’s a lot of mixed bag reaction with how Mxtx treated them. On one hand, for a BL, I think what she did with her female characters is probably better than most bl novels on the market BUT her only character that’s canonically gay is hualian. Mxtx words not mine lol. So I would expect her to do more with them. For example, yushi is such an interesting character and a powerhouse and how the narrative builds her up but yet I find her real scenes lacking. Like she’s just there.

great question!! a frequent issue i have with bl in all its forms is the lack of female characters (or their lack of meaningful screentime/development if they ARE present)… i’m honestly pretty torn about tgcf’s female characters!

the women we see are cool and complex. i think it’s notable that she introduces a lot of women who are clearly powerful and physically strong—ban yue, xuan ji, and yushi huang all come to mind. i also think jian lan is notable for her mental strength as a survivor of sexual assault and an incredible difficult life. tgcf doesn’t treat its female characters like damsels in distress, which is something i really like!

of all of them, ling wen is unquestionably my favorite. she’s SOOOO interesting. i love that she’s hyper-competent and fucked up and cutthroat! the brocade immortal arc is sooooo fun because it was a joy to watch her wreaking some well-deserved havoc. i also like her because though technically speaking she’s a minor antagonist—she’s also extremely sympathetic and there’s a lot of great discussion of sexism with her character. i like her! i think she’s neat!

having said all that though—i do agree that i wish the female characters got more focus. as i mentioned before, all the female characters are really cool on paper! but we just don’t see a lot of them. most of the really notable, plot-moving side characters are men. a lot of times the female characters feel more like an afterthought, which is a bummer because i truly do find them interesting! (i feel this especially about jian lan… sometimes i feel like her relationship with feng xin was mostly put in just to be a foil to the unbreakable love of hualian… but that’s a convo for another day lmao)

i’m also a bit unsure where to place shi qingxuan in all this! while i personally am split between headcanoning them as nonbinary or as a transwoman, i’m not sure that’s what mxtx intended! there’s definitely a lot of gender-y stuff going on with their character, but i’m hesitant to give writers “representation points” for something they didn’t necessarily mean to do.

anyway, this is a whole lot of ranting just to say—i like tgcf’s female characters! definitely they’re better than many other female casts (or lack thereof) that i’ve seen in other bl! but i wish that they got more screentime!!!

[veliseraptor]

HI just wanted to comment on something i see frequently in your writing! A recurring motif ive noticed you like to use is like... xue yang waiting for something to hurt- expecting pain (usually physical) and either enduring it when it happens or being surprised when it doesnt. And i think that is just so chef kiss- i think xue yang as a character is on some level always waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for things to start hurting, ready to cut and run or lash out when they do, and i think that recurring motif of yours is just Extremely him and its always stuck with me when i reread your work. 10/10 thank u for giving me xue yang brain worms

you're welcome for the xue yang brain worms, just sharing my own when I don't have any more room for them in my own head. it's how I cope

anyway though I love when people like...specifically mention recurring Motifs they notice me playing with with a character, because I both worry that it's too obvious and also unclear at all times. but yeah!! this is definitely one of those where...I've talked before about how I think Xue Yang is very used to existing in a constantly precarious state.

Nothing is certain, nothing is stable, and his expectations of the people around him are in the basement. He pretty much lives by the expectation that he can't trust anybody else to look out for him except for him, and when they do it's always contingent and going to end eventually. I don't think Xue Yang was surprised to get kicked out of Jinlintai, however it happened; there was always an expiration date on that arrangement, from his perspective, and it was just going to be a matter of how and when it happened, and how well he could land when it did. He is very much always waiting for the other shoe to drop, because it's just a matter of time and he has to be ready when it happens.

(He wasn't ready when he was a kid, he didn't see it coming, but he's never making that mistake again. He will, in fact, bite first if it looks like there's something anywhere nearby that might possibly hurt him. Caught off guard once, death on the entire Chang Clan, caught off guard twice, that's just embarrassing.)

I also think a lot about how Xue Yang simultaneously spends all the time in anticipation of his own imminent death and carries himself with a certain attitude of invincibility and total indifference toward consequences. Bad shit's going to happen and eventually it will kill him but in the meantime he's going to live life like it won't.

Basically: pain and suffering is not just a fact of life but the rule; anything else is the exception.

And this is what kills me about two specific moments in the Yi City arc. The first is the one where Song Lan first calls Xue Yang's name, and the second is during the argument with Xiao Xingchen where Xue Yang tips from trying to get Xiao Xingchen to understand to on the attack. They're moments where I think it shows how much Xue Yang did relax during that period of time, and how much he at least...stopped being quite so ready for the flip side, and that's part of why it hits so hard when it does arrive, and part of why he goes after Xiao Xingchen as viciously as he does.

(Like I said, caught off guard twice...stupid, stupid mistake, and look what happened. Nobody's supposed to be able to hurt Xue Yang anymore but somehow Xiao Xingchen is doing it, and he should have known this was coming, when did he forget to watch for it?)

There's something too, though maybe this is also me reading forward in the MXTX extended universe, that looks at the way Xue Yang treats Xiao Xingchen in particular and wonders if he is, at least in some way, testing his hypothesis. I definitely think the way he goes after Xiao Xingchen isn't just about personal revenge; the way it's tailored is very specifically making a point about how Xue Yang's worldview is right and Xiao Xingchen's is wrong. Xiao Xingchen thinks he can alleviate suffering and make the world better; Xue Yang is here saying that there's no such thing.

anyway see related texts: xue yang's relationship with his body, xue yang, candy, and the mug metaphor

[ultfreakme]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Oh this is tough, like oh wow I' gonna have such a hard time this might take a while to be answered.

Avatar The Last Airbender Watched this since I was a kid over multiple years so this is always going to have a special place in my heart. It introduced me to a lot of difficult concepts and struggles.

Legend of Korra Also watched this as a kid from middle school to high school. I loved watching Korra grow and overcome her struggles, it was a lot more personal to me. I related to Korra especially in S3 & 4. She's also how I started my queer realization.

Superman: Son of Kal El This one's newer. It's a comfort comic. When this came out I was pretty comfortable in my queer identity, but it just made me feel more empowered to see a queer superman asking the questions we often ask; why not do more? I this answers very clearly the role of superman and people with privilege in aiding those who need a voice. The Superman, Jon, does a lot of heroics but his true heroism comes through in the way he waits and listens to others and uses his symbol to allow platform for those that are suppressed to speak, in this case it's his ally and boyfriend Jay Nakamura.

Book Thief: I think I read this in middle school and up until then we knew about the Holocaust through history books, it seemed distant but this book brought everything into a focused reality. The devastation of war, the cruelty of the Nazi regime, it really made me see how devastating and unfair and wrong Nazi Germany was on a visceral level. The narrator of the story is Death itself. There's one quote that made me see the horror of war starkly: "I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They’re running at me(Death)."

The Hunger Games This series's impact is well-known. It's a tale of revolution and exploitation. It's about Katniss's bravery but also about her vulnerabilities. Everything feels so hopeless in this world but this story shows that if you dare to stand up, others will follow. I loved how raw Katniss was, how human she is and how personal her struggles are. A lot of THG copycats forget that the reason why Katniss works is because although she hates the capitol and wants better for all the districts, she's also just a young girl who wants to keep her family safe and live without worrying for once. The latter is always forgotten. She doesn't actually orchestrate the revolution, that's a team effort led by Coin. I just, love how well done it is in humanizing everyone and showing the worst of humanity but also the best when faced with tough times.

Scum Villain Self-Saving System: This is famously MXTX's first and frankly the least good novel in the three she's released but I have imprinted on this. It's a parody and comedy but it also gets way too gritty and real in a lot of places. The story is essentially about creators selling out to fans and company demands so that they can get money, while stifling their creativity. It's very meta and makes fun of a lot of the typical danmei novel and harem novel tropes. It's not perfect and has a lot of issues but I love how funny it is. I feel like you won't get it unless you get it. It's very hit or miss for lots of people.

Kuroko No Basket: I think I've rewatched this about 5 times. I have nothing deep to say about it. It's a fun basketball anime about people being buddies and middle school drama and ridiculous basketball. I love it because it's pure fun and I love seeing the charecters interact.

Unknown Novel I read when I was like twelve: Okay so when I was possibly 12(or younger) I read a novel about this girl, it read like a personal account and I think it was, of this girl who was about to suffer some horrible fate around the early 1900s and narrowly escaped, and is trying to find her footing and make her way home. It follows her growing up from a teenager to an adult. I don't know it's name, when it was released, character names. NOTHING. BUT. That book left a mark on me and I've been hunting for it ever since. I didn't know it was about a Jewish girl in WW2 but now I think I can confirm that's what it was. That book rocked my worldview. There's this ONE CHAPTER I remember vividly: Our narrator is recently married and pregnant. She and her husband have no housing so they're staying in this group home with multiple people. The narrator starts having cravings for applesauce/jam and her husband procured it for her. She didn't know that he made it for her every time she craved it. Her husband had a set of numbers stamped on his arm. I know this excerpt is very little and can't be found anywhere properly but while reading this I just, realized how lovely humans can be. These two were not living in good conditions they were barely getting food and were cramped in small spaces to sleep. But her husband, who suffered greatly only recently, somehow found a way to get her applesauce/jam because she craved it. That's love. That's genuine love and idk it stuck to me. No idea how I accidentally got my hands on two books on the Holocaust and WW2 so young. If you know this anon, or if ANYONE knows what book I'm talking about please let me know. It's been a decade long hunt(I think more).

Narnia: The Witch, The Wizard and The Wardrobe: Rewatched this about 20 times. I once borrowed my mom's shawl and stole the kitchen knife to stand over my sleeping father with the knife in my hand pretending to stab him(I was....6? y father reported to me years late that he was awake and TERRIFIED and considered just hiding the movie CD because I was...instead of acting like the MC who I did love, I started acting like the main villain).

I was pretending to be the White Witch/Jadis, my dad was Aslan. Almost locked myself up in our closet. Anyways this was a formative movie where I learned "dress hot, carry a knife, violence, manipulation <3". This is so fun and it's so charming. All the characters are so flawed and sweet and I want the best for all of them. Idk I think it still holds up and is just SO GOOD. A wonderful fantasy film.

10. Pooh's Heffalump Movie: Please don't laugh. I know this list is a wild ride that makes no goddamn sense but this movie was so good. I was obsessed as a child. It has a very nice lesson on accepting people's differences and not judging people based on appearances. Everyone was afraid of Lumpy but Roo braved those fears, made a wonderful friend and showed that it's important to conquer our fears. This was my family's favorite movie and still is like I'll be singing "lumpy lumpity lee, lumpy bumpity dee! Heffa-lumpy like me!".

Never too old to learn the importance of finding courage, being open-minded and not letting our fears rule us. The final scene where Lumpy is stuck under a lot of fallen trees, and Roo goes through the small cracks in the trees to support his friend despite knowing he might get crushed is just so ;_; It's so good.

Thanks for the question anon and giving me a chance to rant!! XDXD

[spring-books]

The trouble with the mdzs fandom tags on this webbed site is that to scroll through them or to follow them is a lot like dumpster diving. some people's trash is others people's treasure etc etc. but the thing is.... there's sooooo much stuff that it's impossible to block all the unwanted stuff from getting onto your blog.

I used to be deeply meh about jiang cheng. But just scrolling the tags and trying to reblog nice art and some fun takes has radicalized me. I've had the jiang cheng tag blocked forever. He's always been the one who dragged in the worst opinions and most extreme takes on both sides. But it's just impossible to escape him seeping into the other tags.

Ive seen about ten odd hot takes about him just tonight that forced me to once again think of him.

So while we're here, I'm going to add to the pile of opinions. This isn't well thought out criticism or analysis, just some ramblings about the most polarizing character I've literally ever seen in my 16 years in fandom. This is obviously about novel Jiang Cheng, never watched the show, don't care to.

The thing about jc that I'm always surprised by is how much people care about the guy. Don't get me wrong, he's an absolutely fascinating character and kudos to mxtx for always adding the most layers to her character building. But he's just a really fucking unlikeable guy almost objectively. Most people are straight up scared of him or find him unpleasant to deal with. The only major positive interactions we really ever see are with jiang yanli, jin ling and wwx. And the wwx ones are always riddled with sharp words and unpleasant language although half joking in places(certainly not fully joking with the amount of insecurities the guy is riddled with). Just an all round piece of work.

And the thing is, there wasnt a moment in the book that i sat and thought about how bad he has it, because EVERYONE that came out of that situation had it fucking bad. And if we're gonna play the trauma-lympics, he really isn't even in the top three. So, at the end of it, when I joined fandom, I was really just struck by the no. of people who could spend all their time either hating him or loving him. I'm just intrigued by what makes jiang cheng so particularly polarizing.

But at the end of the day I'm no one to yuck someone else's yum in fandom. Toxic men with mommy issues have been a staple of fictional obsessions forever and it'll continue that way. I do wish people would tag better and that the fandom would embrace the ooc tag, but that ship was burnt before it ever set sail. So, I guess I'll just keep playing dodge and blocking people for as long as i'm still here.

[okaythisone]

Just finished book 1 of tgcf and some favorite points are:

- Xie Lian <3

- All the characters! MXTX makes some damn compelling characters.

- Mu Qing and Feng Xin following XL around in disguise. Like, it's so obviously them, right? And they're so annoyed about it. Nobody is making you do this lol. Does XL know it's them? Can't wait to find out what their deal is.

-Xiao-Ling. Poor girl deserved so much better. She just wanted to take care of the kid(that's HC right? I know I've seen fanart of him as a kid with bandages on his face). I'm horribly weak to the found family trope. Also, she gives awesome makeovers.

- FX trying to parent XL. Like stopping XL from eating the ground bun(lol), and worrying HC has "ulterior motives." It's adorable, but, my guy, XL is 800 years old. He has absolutely done and been through worse.

- the way XL has found entirely new ways to embarrass himself around HC. "Xie Lian hadn't felt this embarrassed in centuries," the horrors one can acclimate to, but being awkward is an unending torment.

- how XL kept making old person comments in the chat(array, whatever) and had to be stopped. "Xie Lian felt a little depressed. He wasn't even that old," you are 800! Who's old then!?

- XL making his own shrine. " If no one worships me, I'll worship myself!" Yeah, believe in yourself! I guess...

Then in the village, "Who's that?" "Um... I don't know either?" Bruh...

" What does he do?" "Probably watches over you and keeps you safe." Do you not know? I love him.

- HC's perfect human disguise and garbage acting skills.

- the way HC keeps messing with FX and MQ. Lmao, bully them. All three of them are being so unnecessarily dramatic.

- it was XL's tomb! Lmao, can't even save face by not saying how he 'died' because HC might question it, and still getting outed later. I thought it sounded suspiciously like him when they found it, but then it actually was! Poor guy.

-Banyue(girl, not country). Really paving that road to hell with her good intentions, damn. She's just so sweet? Gotta love a sweet character with a resting bitch face. She clearly cares so deeply about XL and wanted to grow up to be like him. Still shares the same dream he did and wants his advice 200 awful years later. I want to cry.

- XL taking her in (as much as he could) in the first place. Giving her the last of his rations, playing with her and the other kids in his free time. "Xie Lian didn't know where she came from. But she was a random wandering child, so he randomly took her in. When he was free, sometimes he'd teach her songs, sometimes wrestle, sometimes show off his busker move... and they got along quite well." (T-T) family... I want to see them grow closer.

- the dude XL told to live for him was totally HC huh. Man, you can't just say that. You gotta take responsibility for that XL.

- RING! That's the ashes right?! I saw something about that(ugh), but this soon? HC does not mess around... with XL. He exclusively messes around otherwise.

[legallyhermione]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Ooooof this is such a hard question!! Thank you for the ask, I love this kinda stuff!!

Without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are!

1. Any of MXTX’s content (I’m counting them as one because I love too many things 😭): For me, these novels and adaptations were my first foray into danmei and Chinese media. I also discovered them at a time when I was questioning my identity and coming to terms with the fact I’m queer (which is…not really accepted in my family). I watched The Untamed first, then read fan translations of the novels before they started being officially translated, and I keep coming back to them because I find them so thought provoking. I like that none of the characters are presented as perfect people; they’re all flawed humans, but we love them anyway.

2. Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty: found family, Sherlock Holmes-like detective skills, spies, political machinations, food as a form of love? What more could I ask for! I just love this show. Haven’t gotten to read the novel it’s based on yet, but I’m hoping to soon!

3. Yuri on Ice: one of the first anime I ever watched, and it’s just so sweet and lovely. Definitely one of my comfort shows! Plus there are some crazy good fics. Still hoping one day we’ll get the movie!

4. Harry Potter: I struggle with this one a lot, because I very much dislike JKR’s transphobic rhetoric. But the fan spaces of Harry Potter provided me with support and escape I needed many times throughout my life, and for that the fandom of Harry Potter will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s been a part of my life nearly as long as I can remember.

5. Thousand Autumns: another one with some very morally grey characters! I love thinking about who and what is right and wrong, and this novel definitely makes you think about it. Lots of political world building as well, which I love.

6. My Cousin Vinny: a fantastic movie that I have many fond memories about. The jokes and digs about the south vs the north in the US always make me laugh, and as someone who has lived many years in both of those areas, those scenes make me giggle.

7. Haikyuu!: another one of my comfort shows! It’s just happy and fun and adorable. I love this one. I watched it sooooo many times during lockdown.

8. BBC Merlin: was morgana my bi awakening? I shan’t tell! Suchhh a good show, I miss it so much. Another fandom that has some incredibleeeee fanfics. Y’all writers are so talented.

9. Our Flag Means Death: I think this was maybe my first piece of media that explicitly included multiple queer characters but the entire storyline wasn’t only about the otherness and pain of being queer (or just a stereotyped role). This show made me feel seen in ways no other media had before. Plus, the show is gay pirates. It doesn’t get much better than that!

10. Avatar the Last Airbender: me and my siblings all loved this show, and we still watch it together often whenever we’re together. It’s so good. Zuko’s character development is still quite possibly the best redemption arc I’ve seen. I love it.

Phew. It was so hard to choose 10! I’m glad you didn’t ask me to pick one because I’m afraid that would’ve been impossible for me! What are your favorites???

💚

[letteredlettered]

Hi Lettered, I’m a big fan & watched The Untamed to better understand your two fics :) Is there anything I should know about the source material for your new work? Can I read it without background info? Thank you for sharing with us!!!

I'm so glad you like my fics! I hope you liked The Untamed!

Both of my (big) fics for The Untamed (Say More and Time Signature) can be read without canon knowledge, as they are complete AUs set in the real world.

My newest fic (The New Cultivation Method) is based on Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu, TGCF for short), which a web novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX). (MXTX also wrote The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, aka MDZS, the web novel upon which The Untamed is based.) My new fic is canon compliant and deals directly with canon events. I don't think it can be read without background info.

If you still want to read the fic without reading the source material, here is a brief summary of the book as well as some basic info you need for the fic. I put additional info about the book behind the cut, as it contains spoilers, but I hope said spoilers might entice you to read the book, given that it's amazing! That said, if you only watched The Untamed and haven't read a xianxia novel, I would recommend starting with Scum Villain's Self Saving System, as it is actually a meta novel starting in the real world, and it's very short and quite the page turner.

Basic summary: TGCF is about a prince, Xie Lian, who was so martially talented, he ascended to heaven and became a god. However, when Xie Lian descended to help his kingdom's people through a time of war and strife, he was banished from heaven. After a short time he ascended once more due to his spectacular heroism, but very shortly after that, he was banished a second time. After his second banishment, Xie Lian wanders the earth, unlucky and obscure, for 800 years before ascending to heaven a third time.

Throughout the book you learn quite a bit more backstory about his ascensions and banishments. The forestory is about Xie Lian's various missions after his third ascension--either quests to help friends, save people, or to obey the Emperor of Heaven. On these missions Xie Lian repeatedly encounters Hua Cheng, a dangerous god-slaying ghost.

Basic info for the fic: The fic is Xie Lian/Hua Cheng, and largely centers around Xie Lian choosing a new cultivation method (cultivation is basically magic in the xianxia genre. Xianxia is a genre of Chinese fantasy that involves cultivators--magicians, basically--and immortals). Xie Lian's canonical cultivation method includes sexual abstinence, so his decision to give up that method in that fic is supposed to obviously mean he really wants to have sex. I had him decide to give up his old cultivation method in favor of dual cultivation; dual cultivation is a method in the xianxia genre wherein cultivators have sex to strengthen their cultivation.

Further book spoilers:

In TGCF, the backstory is that Hua Cheng was a young boy who was saved by Xie Lian multiple times. Hua Cheng decided to dedicate his life to Xie Lian. He died fighting in a war for Xie Lian's kingdom. He not only worships Xie Lian as a god, but is deeply, obsessively in love with him.

In this world, people come back as ghosts if they have a strong enough purpose that ties them to the mortal world--say, they want revenge against someone who killed them. There are three ways ghosts get destroyed: they fulfill or lose their purpose, the ashes of their mortal body get destroyed, or the ghost's spiritual energy is dispersed. Dispersing a ghost means tearing apart through extreme violence or sucking out their spiritual energy so that it can't gather again.

Hua Cheng's dedication to Xie Lian was so strong that this purpose brought him back as a ghost, where he continued to try to stand by Xie Lian's side and help him with anything Xie Lian needed help with. Right before Xie Lian's second ascension, Hua Cheng was dispersed.

But Hua Cheng's purpose was unnaturally strong, meaning he rather spectacularly survived dispersal, and he came back yet again. He became one of the most powerful ghosts in existence, destroyed gods who had previously insulted Xie Lian, and looked for Xie Lian for 800 years, only locating Xie Lian once more when Xie Lian ascends a third time.

They go through quite a lot together in the book. Xie Lian eventually realizes Hua Cheng is the young boy (and young ghost) from his own past. He also realizes that Hua Cheng loves him and has been obsessed with him his whole life. This is quite all right with Xie Lian, who rather likes him back.

Right at the end of the book, there is a big battle, and Hua Cheng is dispersed a second time trying to help Xie Lian. Xie Lian begs Hua Cheng not to leave him, and Hua Cheng promises Xie Lian that he will survive dispersal once again and come back.

Xie Lian waits a year. At the very end of the book, Xie Lian comes home to a house he has built for them, and finds Hua Cheng waiting outside the door. The book ends there, and my fic is about their reunion, mostly with porn.

If you're looking for some really dirty porn, this isn't it. They are both so, so so excited to be having sex that they both repeatedly come more quickly than they mean to and lose any sense of chill either of them ever had.