#xiao-ge

[this-blurry-photograph]

The Lost Tomb 2: Ep.19

Love how Wu Xie is always ready to rationalize whatever freaky supernatural thing they encounter. I wonder how he's dealing with Xiao-ge not aging or if he's decidedly not thinking about it.

Is he using cigarettes in place of incense? *crying*

Okay, things are just getting increasingly weird. What is Lao Yang after? What is so special about Wu Xie's blood? What is going on with this waterfall? How is it connected to the underground tomb? Very invested in this mystery now!

Spent almost this whole Xiao-ge and Pangzi scene trying to get a good look at Xiao-ge's hands. He's got some kind of fingerless leather half glove? It only goes around his thumb and forefinger. Is it connected to his coat? I'm very invested in his fashion.

Man I just love Xiao-ge and Pangzi exploring together. I love it when the whole Iron Triangle is together but when Wu Xie's there he's both of their focus and we don't get as much of this antagonistic and sarcastic banter.

But despite it all Xiao-ge still comes to Pangzi's rescue when he needs it!

Wu Xie the great mediator.

Gosh, I love when Xiao-ge is snippy and aloof. Pangzi and I are both loving this.

Wu Xie really is such a nerd.

[yuhua-a]

i couldn't wait so i drew qijiu 🥺

sj: if shixiong doesn't want me to go to the warm red pavilion, then he will have to take responsibility 😼 *thinking he'll hate it*

meanwhile, qi-ge: xiao jiu 🥰🥰😍😍😘🫶🫶🫶❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂

(refernence photo credit, 超不可爱小朋友 on 小红书)

[whos-the-seme]

Shen Qingqiu glared at the Old Palace Master. He just knew that the bastard was smirking behind his raised sleeves, sure of his destruction. Well, given the truth serum that they had just forced down his throat for this sham of a trial, the Old Palace Master might be right, but Shen Qingqiu-- Shen Jiu had never gone down without a fight.

Still, it would be hard to resist the serum. They had forced him to take Hearts' Sorrow, which was notorious for not only forcing a person to answer truthfully, but also had a tendency to loosen the person's inhibitions so as to make it harder to control their emotions and the ability to keep their mouth shut.

Shen Jiu liked to pretend that he didn't have any emotions to exploit, his heart as cold as his face, however, he was already exhausted and stressed from the entire ordeal. His mind raced through the fog of the serum and the weakness induced by the immortal binding cables, yet the only real tactic he had at the moment was to quite literally bite his tongue so he couldn't speak.

He knew he had the bad habit of not explaining himself, of just letting people think what they wanted to think, which often lead to people just assuming the worst of him. He knew he wasn't a good person, either, so often, it was justified. After all, he had kicked that little beast down into the Abyss (though, he had considered it a favor rather than killing the beast, and look where that had gotten him).

But he still had things he wanted to protect. Even if Yue Qingyuan (Qi-ge) liked to pretend to not have started in the dirt like the slaves they used to be, he still refused to reveal anything that might harm the other.

He bit down harder and tasted iron.

Even if Qi-ge had abandoned him, Xiao Jiu would keep his promise.

[lurkinginnernarrator]

au where SQQ does undergo the 'qi-deviation' and is 'changed' but in reality the twin of Shen Jiu, Shen Yuan made a comment one day about how all Shen Jiu did was bitch about his martial siblings. Never one to turn down a golden opportunity,

Shen Jiu: bet

And so the twins decided to switch lives!

The qi-deviation is just so they can explain away any differences of temperament and so sj can hightail away easier.

Shen Yuan: this is going to be so easy

(spoiler. it wasn't)

Between useless sect meetings that could've been not even an email but a text message, reading fifteen different preteens attempts to sneak in dick jokes into their poetry assignments, the head cook alerting him to the fact that they've somehow run out of rice??? They're the greatest cultivation sect??? How does that happen???

Anyway, two of his Hall masters eloping together and taking an extended honeymoon (he's happy for them, but. Who's going to teach those classes now??? Him. Apparently.), sect politics and his 'martial siblings' barely even attempting a farce of civility or courtesy AND his guqin strings needing to be replaced and restrung ?

Shen Yuan is sorry 🙏🙏please come back🙏🙏🙏

Cue the allotted period of switching ending and Shen Yuan dramatically throwing the fan on the ground as Shen Jiu rolls up and goes "thanks for the vacation didi"

[fairsweetlonging]

have been in a qijiu/qiyuan mood lately, and i was thinking about an au where shen yuan, upon transmigrating, actually loses his memories. he wakes up and has no idea who he is, where he is, who the man at his bedside is. not a clue. the only thing he has is his muscle memory, his sharp recognition senses (he's experiencing a lot of déjà-vu), and blurry fractions of memories that he can't quite make out.

thing is, the memories of both shen yuan and shen jiu aren't actually gone, they start to intermingle, to mix up, a little sister in princess pajamas beside an older brother wearing dirty rags, a bright screen that displays mountain peaks and glittering caves. he's kind and generous the way someone who has never had to worry about food or money is, but he gets vicious and defensive when someone gets too close. sometimes he says cruel things and doesn't even understand why himself.

neither identity fits anymore, both names right and wrong at the same time. it's just... shen qingqiu.

and while everyone else might adjust to this just fine, yue qingyuan does not. because that is shen jiu, but it isn't, but it has to be, but not always. he gets flashes of his childhood friend when shen qingqiu gets viciously defensive over nothing, when he scowls and scoffs and rolls his eyes when he thinks people can't see, but then he smiles, and laughs, and tilts his head in a way that is completely foreign. he likes beasts. shen jiu never liked beasts. but he loves tanghulu, like shen jiu. sweet sugary things. the first time xiao jiu cuddles up into his hug, he cries.

the way he sometimes clings to yue qingyuan when he has a bad day can't be him, but then he says "qi-ge" exactly like shen jiu would and damn near snarls at anyone who gets too close, and he's aggressively possessive the way he was when they were kids. but then he pulls away and apologizes, like shen jiu would never do.

and he never demands anything, scrubbed clean from roughness and filth and selfish want, will act perfect and smiling and pleasant, never burdensome. like he's completely forgotten where he came from, what he was. like the pampered nobleman's son who could afford to be kind. the only time his old self comes fully back up is when he feels threatened or scared or angry, like a trauma response that kicks in to protect himself. and then yue qingyuan starts to wonder if maybe it is. maybe the shen jiu he knows was only ever fear and self-preservation, and the one he is now is a shen jiu without the chains and shackles and scars.

yue qingyuan doesn't know if he's happy for him, if it's for better or for worse. he does know that he feels protective and responsible for this new version xiao jiu has become.

meanwhile shen qingqiu, even when he regains enough of his memories to realize he was once a different person, doesn't know who he is anymore. both, maybe. or neither. he feels bad for taking away yue qingyuan's friend, but in his heart he can't help but think qi-ge is his brother, and no one else's. when he manages the peak he feels like he's taking credit for another's accomplishments, but he remembers suffering for it, he remembers what it took to get there.

[accio-victuuri]

oh hello xiao laoshi 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼

[bambooswordwielder]

Yue Qingyuan's character is so interesting to me because this man just reeks of guilt-till-death. His relationships with Shen Jiu has always oddly reminded me of parents who blame themselves for everything bad that happens/is caused by their children.

I feel like Yue Qingyuan genuinely can't really punish/scold Shen Jiu for any controversial action he does because deep down he blames himself.

He wonders everytime he hears of Shen Jiu's scandals if he could've done something when they were younger to perhaps make Shen Jiu more... calmer.

Shen Jiu of course we know has always been suspicious of everyone and been somewhat aggressive, but I feel like Yue Qingyuan is convinced that if he had done something more, maybe Shen Jiu would've been at least a bit more happy.

After Shen Qingqiu's 'sudden memory loss' and subsequent personality change, Yue Qingyuan must've realised that Shen Qingqiu was happier... especially after he forgot everything they went through. He doesn't yell at meetings, he doesn't violently discipline his younger disciples for minor incidents, he actually improves his relationships with the other peaklords.

All he needed for this change was to forget his and Yue Qingyuan's past. Forget his trauma and pain. Forget how cruel the world had been to them. Forget Qi-Ge and Xiao Jiu.

Maybe Yue Qingyuan suspects something is off. Maybe he doesn't. I just feel like either way, he just hopes Shen Jiu is living a happier life without him in it.

[disgracefulthings]

In defense of Yue Qingyuan

I like to start off and say that you don't have to like Yue Qingyuan, but there is an aspect of his character that many people misunderstand, and I would like to explain it

"Why did Yue Qingyuan never tell Shen Jiu that he came for him?" This was something that I was confused by at first too, and yeah, it made him look bad. I'm not a huge fan of fanfics that over-villainizes him, but if that's cathartic for some people then I get it

What made me realize why Yue Qingyuan never came for Shen Jiu was me thinking about WHY their relationship was added to the story in the first place. What did these two characters mean to the svsss as a whole?

Shen Jiu is Luo Binghe's foil, they are very similar and both fall down a dark path. That made me look at both Shen Yuan and Yue Qingyuan, and that's when it hit me. Shen Yuan did the exact same thing Yue Qingyuan did. He never told Luo Binghe why he pushed him, and while WE know that he isn't able to explain the System, there was one thing he could've done to help Luo Binghe, and that would be to tell him that he regretted it. The System wasn't stopping him from saying it, so why didn't he?

Both Shen Yuan and Yue Qingyuan kept their silence for the same reason, they thought it wouldn't matter. Yue Qingyuan failed Shen Jiu, and Shen Yuan hurt Luo Binghe, and both of them believed that there was nothing they could do to fix it. Whatever they say would only be excuses, they have already failed, and nothing would change that

They don't see that explaining/apologizing would mean the world to Shen Jiu/Luo Binghe, and because of their silence on the matter, it's sends Shen Jiu and Luo Binghe into dark places

So let me ask you this. "Why does the fandom hate Yue Qingyuan and not Shen Yuan, who did the same thing?" And the answer is pretty clear. We see through Shen Yuan's perspective throughout the book, so we understand his reasoning, Yue Qingyuan's reasoning just wasn't spelled out for us. I love MXTX's writing, and how she doesn't just explain every aspect of a character, it's up to the reader to find out. She never outright says "Shen Yuan doesn't see the people around him as people, but as characters", we see that in how he thinks. Sadly that means that sometimes things are missed, and that includes the purpose of Yue Qingyuan's character

Anyway I wanted to put this out there because I've seen a lot of Yue Qingyuan hate, and like I said in the beginning, you are still free to hate this man, everyone has their character preferences. I just find it odd when people hate him for things Shen Yuan have did, yet he isn't treated the same way as Yue Qingyuan is by the fandom

Yue Qingyuan and Shen Jiu are a tragic duo that have an unhappy ending in 2 canonical worlds, and while they are very flawed individuals, I can't help but want them to get better and be happy

[this-blurry-photograph]

The Lost Tomb 2: Ep.25

Xiao-ge: Fighting to protect Pangzi after he was almost stabbed in the head. Pangzi: Most concerned that Xiao-ge doesn't break the other guy's sword because it's probably valuable.

Pangzi: Gives a heartfelt speech over the dead body of this resurrected/preserved/time travelling soldier that moves himself to tears. Pangzi: Starts looting the body when he's done.

Love that Pangzi's objection to Xiao-ge saying he should have died a long time ago is that if Wu Xie hears him saying that it would make him cry.

So... what are the chances Lao Yang survives this? He's now the only one not of the main four cast that's left in this tomb.

Are we dealing with evil doppelgangers too now?? I'm already never sure if someone is possessed, or hallucinating, or a shapeshifting creature, or is time travelling. I've resigned myself to just being confused about the plot at this point.

[xiaobaosnoona]

[whydoyouaskmethis]

Me laughing at Commander Meng's confused face as if I'm not as clueless as him

[aspiringjester]

i relate to yue qingyuan bc i too am fundamentally hardwired to act like a sobbing wet kicked puppy around shen jiu and pitifully crawl away when he insults me and demands i leave and then drag my sopping wet pathetic self back for more time and time again and maybe this time he'll even hit me with his fan--

[tinesleftnipple]

the duality of man is wei qian fist fighting one on six and succeeding but also going weak in the knees from yuan kissing him

[my-otp-list]

Recent Chinese dramas with a nonchalant MC who just wants to slack off (but fails), gorgeous men being best bros, marvellous fighting scenes, and a heck lot of chaos: A comparison.

[palehorsemen]

[lunarriviera]

so many of us have remarked on gu yiran's unbelievably slutty pronunciation of "da-GE~~~" that it needed to be shared here, also dear xhs user with the exact same number of tildes, pls be my bestie: