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dangermousie · 3 years

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Mousie’s absolutely subjective, very biased Top 10 web novels list

Please note that this is hardly aiming to be objective, if one can even be properly objective about a work of fiction. It is 110% based on my preferences, which means this list is heavy on the angst and has nothing set in the modern day. It is also heavily danmei-centric, even though I read way more het romance than danmei, because for whatever reason, most of the danmei I’ve read has been insanely good.

10. Return of the Swallow - one of the two non-danmeis on this list. Smart and nuanced and with a large cast of characters. Our heroine is a long-lost daughter of the family that is brought back in and has to cope with familial struggles, crazy royals, court intrigue, invasion et al. It’s SO GOOD! There is romance with the sexy smart enemy general but honestly, it’s the heroine that is the main selling point for me.

9. Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - the only other non-danmei novel on this list, this was my very first web novel and what drew me into this insanity. This is just a ton of fun, probably the lightest novel on this list, not an ounce of angst to be found. But it’s hilarious and features competent heroine and tsundere hero and I will always love it for opening a new world to me. Anyway, our heroine transmigrates into the novel as the female lead. Unlike the original lead though she doesn’t want to seek adventures and angst - she just wants to comfortably live with the wealthy, nice husband heroine has. Alas, said husband is no longer nice since he has previously lived this story where he was betrayed by FL and then transmigrated/reincarnated into the past. Oh well, the heroine opens up businesses and makes friends. And eventually, her husband realizes his wife is way different this time around. This actually doesn’t have much romance, not until close to the end, but this is so fun I don’t care.

8. Lord Seventh - I am only partway through this so far, but it’s already on the list because it’s smart and somehow intense AND laid-back (not sure how this works, but it does) and is honestly just a really really solid and smart period novel, with the OTP a cherry on top of a narrative sundae. Plus, I love the concept of MC deciding he is not going for his supposedly fated love - he’s tried for six lifetimes, always with disaster, and he’s just plain done and tired. When he opens his life in his seventh reincarnation and sees the person he would have given up the world for, he genuinely feels nothing at all. (Spoiler - his OTP is actually a barbarian shaman this time around, thank you Lord!)

7. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) - oh come on, how are you even on this tumblr if you don’t know MDZS/The Untamed? This was my very first danmei and it’s so much fun! I love everything about it - the unreliable narrator, the looping structure, the main OTP, Wei Wuxian’s laidback, traumatized insouciance, everything. Anyway, the plot in the event you somehow transported here from 2005 is that the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian, was defeated by the righteous sects over a decade ago and fell of a cliff to his death. Only now that same Wei Wuxian opens his eyes in another body and everything that was supposed to stay in the past starts again.

6. Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) - people either love its meandering narrative, picaresque structure and cast of thousands, or find it a detriment compared to much more compact MDZS. I love it even more than MDZS for those very qualities. It does have a rock-solid, darling OTP, but what really elevates it to me are the MXTX trademark combo of snarky/light tone hiding a ton of trauma underneath, the insanely intricate world-building, and what it has to say about the nature of grace and goodness. Xie Lian is one of my top 5 web novel characters and probably in top 10 from anywhere. Oh, and while MXTX’s stuff is not as angsty for me as Meatbun’s or even Priest’s, there are always exceptions, and there is one chapter in this novel that pretty much broke me and sometimes I still flashback to it and feel unwell.

Anyway, what is it about? There is a commotion in the heavenly realm - Xie Lian, the Crown Prince of a long-destroyed kingdom, has ascended to Godhood. That in itself is not so exciting. However for Xie Lian this is the third time (!!!!) as he’s ascended and lost his godhood twice prior. And now, the biggest joke of the divine realm is back, throwing the heavenly realm into chaos. And elsewhere, Hua Cheng, one of the four most powerful demons of that Universe, sits up and takes notice.

5. Golden Stage - my perfect comfort novel. Probably the least angsty of any danmei novel on this list (which still means plenty angsty :P) It also has a dedicated, smart OTP that is an OTP for the bulk of the book - I think you will notice that in most of the novels in this list, I go for “OTP against the world” trope - I can’t stand love triangles and the same. Anyway, Fu Shen, is a famous general whose fame is making the emperor antsy. When he gets injured and can’t walk any more, the emperor gladly recalls him and marries him off to his most faithful court lackey, the head of sort of secret police, Yan Xiaohan. The emperor intends it both as a check on the general and a general spite move since the two men always clash in court whenever they meet. But not all is at is seems. They used to be friends a long time ago, had a falling out, and one of the loveliest parts of the novel is them finding their way to each other, but there is also finding the middle path between their two very different philosophies and ways of being, not to mention solving a conspiracy or dozen, and putting a new dynasty on the throne, among other things. It always makes me think, a little, of “if Mei Changsu x Jingyan were canon.”

4. Sha Po Lang - if you like a lot of fantasy politics and world-building and steampunk with your novels, this one is for you. This one is VERY plot-heavy with smart, dedicated characters and a deconstruction of many traditional virtues - our protagonist Chang Geng, a long-lost son of the Emperor, is someone who wants to modernize the country but also take down the current emperor his brother for progress’ sake and the person he’s in love with is the general who saved him when he was a kid who is nominally his foster father. Anyway, the romance is mainly a garnish in this one, not even a big side dish, but the relationship between two smart, dedicated, deadly individuals with very different concepts of duty is fascinating long before it turns romantic. And if you like angst, while overall it’s not as angsty as e.g., Meatbun stuff, Chang Geng’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares and probably freaks me out more than anything else in any novel on this list, 2ha included.

3. To Rule In a Turbulent World (LSWW) - gay Minglan. No seriously. This is how I think of it. it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period setting per se and I always prefer stories where the romance is not the only thing that is going on. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating. Our protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant, sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he sees his friend’s servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. The person he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers and lets him go. However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely likes him (and yet, there is no instalove on either of their parts, their bodies have fun a lot quicker than their souls.) Anyway, the two take up farming, get involved in the imperial exams and it’s the life of prosperity and peace, until an invasion happens and things go rapidly to hell. This is so nuanced, so smart (smart people in this actually ARE!) and has secondary characters who are just as complex as the mains (for example, I ended up adoring YM’s friend, the one who starts the plot by almost beating LZF to death for no reason) because the novel never forgets that few people are all villain. There is a lovely character arc or two - watching YM grow up and LZF thaw - there is the fact that You Miao is a unicorn in web novels being laid back and calm. This whole thing is a masterpiece.

2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - want the emotional hit of 2ha but want to read something half its length? Well, the author of 2ha is here to eviscerate you in a shorter amount of time. This has the beautiful world-building, plot twists that all make sense and, at the center of it all, an intense and all-consuming and gloriously painful relationship between two generals - one aristocratic loner Mo Xi, and the other gregarious former slave general Gu Mang. Once they were best friends and lovers, but when the novel starts, Gu Mang has long turned traitor and went to serve the enemy kingdom and has now been returned and Mo Xi, who now commands the remnants of his slave army, has to cope with the fact that he has never been able to get over the man who stabbed him through the heart. Literally. This novel has a gorgeously looping structure, with flashbacks interwoven into present storyline. There is so much love and longing and sacrifice in this that I am tearing up a bit just thinking of it. If you don’t love Mo Xi and Gu Mang, separately and together, by the end of it, you have no soul.

1. The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/erha) - if you’ve been following my tumblr for more than a hot second, you know my obsession with this novel. Honestly, even if I were to make a list of my top 10 novels of any kind, not just webnovels, this would be on the list. It has everything I want - a complicated, intricate plot with an insane amount of plot twists, all of which are both unexpected and make total sense, a rich and large cast of characters, a truly epic OTP that makes me bawl, emotional intensity that sometimes maxes even me out and so much character nuance and growth. Also, Moran is my favorite web novel character ever, hands down.

Anyway, the plot (or at least the way it first appears) is that the evil emperor of the cultivation world, Taxian Jun, kills himself at 32 and wakes up in the body of his 16 year old self, birth name Moran. Excited to get a redo, Moran wants to save his supposed true love Shimei, whose death the last go-around pushed him towards evil. He also wants to avoid entanglement with Chu Wanning, his shizun and sworn enemy in past life. And that’s all you are best off knowing, trust me. The only hint I am going to give is oooh boy the mother of all unreliable narrators has arrived!

The novel starts light and funny on boil the frog principle - if someone told me I would be full bawling multiple times with this novel, I’d have thought they were insane, but i swear my eyes hurt by the end of it. I started out being amused and/or disliking the mains and by the end I would die for either of them.

#cnovel #2ha #yuwu #to rule in a turbulent world #lsww #sha po lang #golden stage #return of the swallow #transmigrator meets reincarnator #lord seventh #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #heaven official's blessing #the dumb husky and his white cat shizun

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smylealong · 3 years

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Xiao Jingyan - Outfits

I just finished Nirvana in Fire and I'm floored. There's so much to say, that one post would not suffice. So I decided to do a series of posts where I detail the things I like the most. Starting with outfits. There are so so many outfits that are worth writing long paragraphs about that one post would not suffice. In this post I'm doing an analysis of one of the protagonist, Xiao Jingyan's, outfits. @mercymornthefirst has done a fantastic ranking of his outfits here. Here is mine.

8. Somehow, this is my least favorite of the lot. The black, red, and various hues of gold just did not appeal to me. The red robe looked as though it was one thick layer too many. The fact that the robe flew as he walked somehow reminded me of a bat and this outfit... just did not work for me.

7. More gold and black. While I don't particularly dislike this outfit, I don't really rank this very high either, Something about the elaborate paneling and the design on the shoulders are a little off-putting for me.

6. Objectively speaking, the outfit itself is quite striking. The red and gold is beautiful. And Xiao Jingyan looks splendid in it. Yet, this outfit is highly reminiscent of the ones worn by Prince Yu and the potato crown prince, and thus, it is tough to look past it.

5. Emperor Xiao Jingyan looks fantastic. The only reason I have this as low as this is because the outfit only shows up for this one tiny scene at the very end. But, I have to reiterate, he looks fantastic. That he always looks fantastic is a different discussion.

4. This scene. This outfit. That has to be the most gorgeous waterbuffalo I have ever seen. The softly falling snow just add to the overall beauty of the scene.

3. The colors! The pattern! The designs! I love everything about this ensemble. There's something about this get up that is both cool & aloof, and yet there's a warmth about it. Just like Xiao Jingyan himself. It is a brilliant one.

2. The colors, the lines, the contrast is striking! I think the white robe only adds to the sharpnes of the outfit.

1. The outfit that killed me dead. Nothing else to say.

#xiao jingyan #wang kai #outfits #nirvana in fire

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gingersnapwolves · 3 years

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Kouri watches Nirvana in Fire, episodes 52-54

Let’s goooooooooooooooooooo

Consort Jing is just the baddest bitch and I love her so much

Mei Changsu you are talking about coming back in 4 or 5 years like you are not lucky Jingyan doesn’t plan to tie you up and keep you in his house

They’re out here ruining my fic thoughts like ‘Jingyan doesn’t even need to get married and have kids, he has Tingsheng!’ with Imperial rules and shit

Oh my GOD he is giving him the PEARL that is the most ROMANTIC thing asdgkahjsdlkfglajfga

NOW KISS!!!!

I am staring in rapt attention but also those beads on the Emperor’s hat are FUCKING DISTRACTING

Okay him falling down the stairs is objectively hilarious

It’s impossible to feel bad for the Emperor given that his problems are entirely self-inflicted. Like dude, get it together.

Consort Jing for Queen of Everything

Lin Shu: bold of you to think I want to stick around this hellhole

What’s the symbolism of the red cloth over the memorial tablet, would someone mind explaining? I mean, I get that it’s Lin Shu’s tablet and he’s not actually dead, but why wouldn’t they just take the tablet down?

Suddenly, everyone’s attacking at once? *side eye*

YUJINNNN!!! JINGRUIIIIIIII!!!!! BEST FRIENDS REUNITED!

Me? Sobbing like a little girl? It’s exactly as likely as you would think.

Did you REALLY just promise him you’d come back you compulsive fucking liar

So like . . . I was prepared for the ending. And I don’t think it’s bad ending, although I definitely think it’s a sad ending. I get Mei Changsu’s choice and it was his right to make it. I wish he’d been honest with the others but I also get that they probably would have hog-tied him and thrown him in a basement or something.

Although tbh I have to give the side eye to the fact that Jingyan, known for military skill and competent governance, employed only Old Generals Who Don’t Actually Do War

In any case, my main complaint about the ending was that there were so many people we didn’t see! They had a cute clip of Jingyan’s kid and Tingsheng, which was obviously incredibly adorable, and we see Meng Zhi along with the ministers. But what about Xia Dong and her furry husband? Did Mu Qing ride south with his sister? How are Jingrui and his mom doing? What about Yujin, who definitely married Gong Yu and you can’t convince me otherwise? How’s Fei Liu handling post Su-gege life???

And there are characters we don’t even know what happened to! Whatever happened to Qin Banruo after she was captured? What about Xia Qiu? Was Xia Dong ever able to explain to him what had happened?

On the upside, the Emperor seems to have died, so that’s a plus.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that this show was dense. I saw a description saying ‘every scene is load-bearing’. But I still feel like it would have been nice to cut down a bit on the musical numbers and making the audience cry to check in with a few other people.

Especially Yujin

I just *clenches fist* love him so much okay

ETA: given the lack of dialogue, it is 100% possible to assume that Lin Chen came up with a miraculous antidote to the Bingxu Pill and Mei Changsu is off living in Jianghu. Who knows what that letter to Nihuang actually said? Jingyan could just be holding a funeral for Lin Shu because it’s easier if everyone thinks he’s dead! Now he can just sneak back into the city as a commoner and he and Jingyan can have secret visits together and he and Jingrui and Yujin are all great friends.

Yeah, that totally works. I’mma go with that.

#liveblog #nirvana in fire #kouri watches nirvana in fire

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windychanglin · 2 years

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Nirvana in Fire: A Series that Just Gets Better with Every Rewatch

There is a saying that the first viewing of a great series/ movie should be done for the plot, second watch for the details and third watch for the craft. While rewatching things (especially a long series) has never been one of my favourite things, i had done it for a very few Japanese dramas, which definitely the ones i love the most and since they just have little number of episodes. The only long series i'd ever rewatched back then was Sherlock, and this year, finally i binge-rewatched another one! Yupyup, that is Nirvana in Fire, and the sole reason was because i was triggered after seeing the series' six-year anniversary post on Twitter around September LOL. I first watched it three years ago, though i had to finish it in haste before the university's end of semester exam period coming up. I remember i loved the overall quality of the series, admiring some of the amazing casts, repeating the theme songs, looking up for the fanficts, but didn't manage to rewatch it until this year, when i finally have more spare time and less thing to watch on my list.

I don't know if this post can be seen as a review, i just feel i need to write it all down because it's not just my opinions/ questions regarding the details i discovered after rewatching, it also contains my feelings HHH now without further ado, here is some of my best scenes and discoveries after a rewatch that leave me in complete awe all over again of the brilliant screenplay!!

[EP1] I think i didn't catch the clue during my first watch that when Lin Chen said, "He actually did it" upon hearing the Northern Yan's unfavoured 6th Prince's ascension to the Crown Prince, he was referring to Su Zhe. This reminded me again that Su Zhe was so resolute in his plans and never took the shortcut. He went as far as meddling in the enemy kingdom's affairs to create a concerning news about the Divine Talent and make sure it reached the other kingdom's princes. That way he could kill two birds with one stone because he also got the chance to test his own capability as a royal adviser before proceeding to his greater objectives in the Da Liang.

[EP4] I love how Su Zhe looked startled even in the subtlest way when Nihuang confessed that she's in "difficult situation," have no "other alternatives" and hoping that Su Zhe will put all his efforts into the defeat-Baili-Qi plan, i assume he only found out that moment that Nihuang actually still didn't want to get married and worried a lot about the husband selection tournament, yet she didn't say much about it and still being so cooperative with him to carry out the plan, which probably in her understanding, was initially created to get Tingsheng out of the servant prison (as what Su Zhe had promised to Jingyan).

[EP9] Minister Liu Cheng from the Grand Secretariat who stays out of the princes' fight for the throne suddenly brought up Shen Zhui's name to Emperor to be chosen as Minister of State Revenue. Next we found out Su Zhe had set up a meeting for Shen Zhui and Jingyan to know each other. Was it a coincidence or Minister Liu actually had somewhat a connection with Su Zhe?

[EP11] It's ironic that Grand Princess Liyang was one of those people who prevented Nihuang to be drugged by Consort Yue, but it was also her husband, Xie Yu, who made the snake Yue got Emperor's mercy and reinstated to her original position. If Xie Yu had the feeling of guilty because of what he had done to Liyang in the past, he wouldn't come up with an idea to help Yue out from the punishment.

[Ep14] A hear-warming moment when Su Zhe told Yujin that he's a "bright and insightful" person, while in the novel Su Zhe used to punish him a lot due to his frivolous behaviour. Yujin is one of those with the best character development throughout the story, like who would have thought that Su Zhe even trusted him an important mission in a later ep!

[EP14] Nihuang actually started to do the female-style greetings before Su Zhe, she normally did the male-style probably because it was more natural for her as an army general. I love how Su Zhe looked a bit stunned and Mu Qing just chuckling at her sister, acting on behalf of the viewers xDD

[EP19] Remember when Lin Chen asked Fei Liu if he wanted to join him to Southern Chu in [EP1]? In this ep, Princess Yu Wen Nian from Southern Chu was told by "Priest Chen" that her wish can come true once they arrived in Jinling. I wished they show a glimpse of Lin Chen's journey to Southern Chu and how he managed to persuade the princess to visit Jingrui, her half-brother.

[EP19] Why did Mu Qing not invited to Jingrui's birthday? I thought they're bestfriends?? x"D Had Su Zhe done something to stop him from attending the bloody party? I remember he had promised Nihuang that nothing will happen to Mu Qing while she went back to Southern Border.

[EP20] Gong Yu played Feng Qiu Huang (A Love Story) in Jingrui's birthday party, it's a famous Chinese zither song in Chinese history that has served as a symbol of the youth's pursuit for love, free marriage and happy life. A song that would hit none other than Grand Princess Liyang close to home.

[EP23] Water-buffalo is his mother's son after all

After hearing Xie Yu's confession in the prison, Xia Dong actually said, "I'm sorry" to Jingyan for casting him out for years due to his belief of Chiyan army case but Jingyan, being a benevolent man like his mother, didn't think it was for him at all as he replied, "Xiao-Shu wouldn't blame you," probably thinking that the guilt she felt was only aiming for Lin Shu and his family.

[EP23] The moment before Grand Empress Dowager died, she was actually calling for Xiao-Shu and Jinyang (Lin Shu's mother), i thought it was Jingyan at first. I was too slow to follow that Lin Shu's mother was also the granddaughter by blood of the Grand Empress Dowager.

[EP24] Remarkable Argument Scenes

I'd like to address a bit some of my fav argument scenes happened betweet Su Zhe and Jingyan, in which we could see how Su Zhe wasn't only giving instructions to Jingyan as a strategist (like what he had done to Prince Yu), but gradually evoke Jingyan's ability to think of any possibilities and solutions by giving him perpetual questions regarding the situation.

Su Zhe queried Jingyan on how would he arrest Duke Qing, a Marquis General of the second rank, with the right to receive a pardon from Emperor, who didn't commit the murders personally and how to find the missing link as a necessary piece of evidence. [EP9]

After the explosion of illegal firework factory, they had another argument as Su Zhe suggested to pretend to forget on reporting the utilization of army provisions for the victims to the Ministry of Defense. [EP17]

The heated argument happened again between them after hearing Xie Yu's confession in the prison, as Su Zhe suggested Jingyan to give up the investigation of Chiyan army case since it won't bring benefit but endless troubles on his path to the throne. Although it sounded like Su Zhe didn't want Jingyan to investigate, i think Su Zhe was actually testing Jingyan's determination, making sure he won't act recklessly on his own and eventually rely on Su Zhe's plans and strategies. [EP23-24]

Through the logical questions and reasonings, Su Zhe had been training Jingyan to be more forbearing, prudent and know when to retreat/ advance during the fights for the throne.

[EP24] Su Zhe said, "Whenever i think about the things in the past, i feel like an iceberg been roasted by a fire. Sometimes it's warm, sometimes it chills to the bone," this is reflecting to what he said during his first visit to Jingyan's manor after 12 years in [EP9]. He felt the warm because "this place is still the same as in past years, nothing has changed at all" but the unchanged manor sent chills down his spine, provoking the symptomps of his illness, as he next said, "It's just today feels a little colder than yesterday." It's not only Winter, cold weather and over-toiling that could make him suffer a relapse, but also when he's reminiscing the past, it happened too after Nihuang found out about his identity in [EP12].

[EP25] During my first watch i thought Su Zhe would eliminate the entire Hua Tribe because they're dangerous and might wreak future havoc in the Da Liang, but in this ep it's hinted that even though Qin Banruo's informants got removed by him, those who wanted to retire and fled were eventually saved by Jiangzuo Alliance. I like the idea of him saving them because Hua Tribe also deserved the justice after being betrayed by the Emperor which causing the fall of their kingdom.

[EP30] Xia Jang said, "Of the officers ranked above brigadier general, there was two whom we didn't find their Chiyan wrist band. One of them was Wei Zheng" i was wondering whether he had never thought the possibility that the other one would be Lin Shu or Nie Feng and that they're still alive, because they had the requirements above. And Xia Jang should had known that Xie Yu actually brought the wrong (or intentional fake?) body of Nie Feng to Xia Dong.... or he did not know at all.

[EP34] The thievery in the ministry's officials manors on New Year's Eve wasn't a mere coincidence because it was all planned by Su Zhe, for it became a very valid reason to move Jingyan's capital patrols (under Emperor's order) around the city to catch the thieves the day they saved Wei Zheng. Literally Su Zhe had to makes 5 or 6 subplans to save one person with all the risk of being accused, that shows how difficult it was to penetrate Xuanjing Bureau and it's system!!

[EP37] Fei Liu's memory

The plant that Fei Liu gave to Su Zhe was Nandina Domestica, usually known as "Heavenly Bamboo" or "Sacred Bamboo." It's commonly planted in the garden or house in Japan and serves to protect a household from harm. A householder who'd had a bad dream could confide in it, thus ensuring the safety of the home's inhabitants. The question is, did Fei Liu actually know about it? Because he knew his Su-gege had been having frequent bad dreams and had always been in danger during his stay in the city.

In the novel, younger Fei Liu was bought by a secret Japanese assassin group that used drugs and poisons on the kids which resulted in intellectual disability but still enable them to train in martial arts. Fei Liu was the youngest in the assassin group and had not been released on any of their missions yet when one day, the group failed in an assassination task and eventually got eliminated, he was left alone to freeze and starve to death until Su Zhe saved him when he was travelling to Japan to find some medical herbs. There shoud be a possibility that during his early days in Japan he found out about the plant and still have it in his memory even after the drugs took effect on him, that explains why he gave it to Su Zhe out of so many beautiful plants in the city! I had this theory because Su Zhe ordered his household to take care of the plant and "will not forgive them" if he finds even a single leaf is missing, then he drank the heart-protection pill from Lin Chen (that very much look similar to the Heavenly Bamboo's red berries!). Knowing that Fei Liu and Lin Chen were protecting him with their own way would make him even stronger and confident to get through the interrogation in Xuanjing Bureau.

[EP38] When Xia Dong said, "Justice is people's hearts. If you still don't repent, even if you kill 10 Mei Changsus it will not solve the problem." i think i once wondered (in my first watch) why they put those words together. Was she implying that Mei Changsu is the symbol of justice itself? Thus, even if they kill him there will always be another Mei Changsus to carry out the duty.

[EP43] Mei Changsu on His Peak of Identity Crisis

I've seen so many reactions from viewers about how people around Su Zhe were so freaking out about his altered appearance while he still looked so damn fine, but i'd like to point out that it wasn't about turning hideous or not that made them horrified, let's see what he had been told about his appearance:

Meng Zhi: "I still can't believe you have become completely unrecognizable. There are no traces of the past." [EP3]

Mr. Shisan: "Heaven has mercy. It allows me to meet Young Master. But after seeing that you don't look like before, i felt so sad.." [EP8]

Nihuang: "What kind of cruel things, can wipe away all the traces of a person? Making you unrecognizable." [EP12]

Up until here, he had been giving calm and insignificant responses with some self-assuring that he knew best who he was in his heart. But not until Consort Jing said this in this ep: "If your father or mother could see the hardships you have taken upon yourself, this heart would die of heartbreak! Xiao-Shu, you used to look so much like your father..."

I found that very heartbreaking to hear, particularly for a family-loving person like him, to the point he had to state for the first time in the series that "Even though my appearance has changed, but i'm still the son of Lin House." That was the first time he started to doubt his identity, that no matter how much he convinced himself, that even he got his appearance altered to the handsome Hu Ge (LOL), having to live the life being completely unrecognizable and cut off from the once pleasant and normal past would give one's a great amount of despair. His misery regarding his own identity might also supported by how he deliberately made himself seen as a stony-hearted and scheming person, the total opposite of his past self.

[EP45] How did Emperor see Prince Yu as a son?

After the Emperor told Prince Yu that his mother, Princess Ling Long and her kingdom were just chess pieces for his ascension to the throne, and should be eliminated because they're too dangerous, the last dialogue between them indicating that the Emperor never saw him as the princess' son, that he's much worthy to be called as his son or else the Emperor wouldn't take him home to raise him even allowing him to be adopted by the Empress.

Prince Yu: "Then what about me? What am i?! Am i the small chess piece born from a big chess piece?"

Emperor, sounds as reassuring as he could: "Jinghuan, back then before i became Emperor, the Hua Tribe was already a defeated country. Jinghuan, you are my fifth son. Your birth mother is Concubine Xiang, do you understand, son?"

Prince Yu must then realized that he had misunderstood his father's intention for being secretive about his heritage, that even though he had been so ambitious and cunning in the fights for throne, that when his father had been giving attention to other Princes in favor of their mother*, his father had never forgotten him and kept favoring him due to his abilities or achievements, and never saw him as a potentially treacherous son (the opposite way how Emperor thought of Prince Qi). I must admit i had a bit of sympathy seeing him crying in agony, he's like a frantic child who couldn't control his ambition, who had nothing but power in his head, who went too far just to please his parents, even worse because he fell for advisers that didn't help his moral character to change at all (both Su Zhe and Qin Banruo were just letting him do the bad things, a good adviser should have done the opposite for their lord, shouldn't they?).

*Consort Chen (Prince Qi's mother), Consort Yue (ex-Crown Prince Xian's mother) and Consort Jing (Jingyan's mother) all became Emperor's fav, while Prince Yu had the Empress, she didn't seem to get along at all with Emperor.

[EP45] Nie Feng was actually following Su Zhe for his blood?

I had always thought he first appeared in [EP16] on the Mount Gu to see Xia Dong when she was visiting his grave, but remember that Su Zhe happened to show up in there too, and remember he was first seen in the capital after so many years not long after Su Zhe' arrival. Coincidence? Fast forward to this ep, he appeared again on Mount Jiu An where Su Zhe joining the spring hunt. I think Nie Feng really had been yearning for Su Zhe's blood (or anyone's who had been contracted with the Bitter Flame Poison?) and tracking him because Su Zhe said that "If he drinks my blood, he will be in less pain!"

[EP46] The kingdom still belongs to Prince Qi?

Emperor was asking for Grand Prince Ji's opinion about Jingyan and whether he had ambition for the throne, and later revealing that Prince Qi is his best son while Jingyan is not, but Jingyan has good points which is he knows how to be humble, while Emperor thinks Prince Qi didn't have that. Grand Prince Ji was then muttering, "So in the end, the kingdom is his. The world is now his, so this divine talent who can obtain the world is also his," i didn't catch the meaning at first so i thought he was referring to Emperor, but Su Zhe clarified it's about Prince Qi. It all makes sense because the best son for Emperor still goes to Prince Qi, and once Jingyan ascended to the throne, he will bring out Prince Qi's aspirations to the world that he learned when they grew up together, making it feels like Prince Qi is reigning again.

[EP46] "We are all one family"

The fact that Su Zhe saved Prince Yu's wife and unborn son made me uneasy at first as i tried to find out what's his motive behind it. But what if he was encouraged by what Grand Prince Ji said to him? Several minutes earlier, we saw Su Zhe thanked him on behalf of Jingyan for saving Tingsheng, in which Grand Prince Ji answered with "We are all one family, in this world, who is not related?" and that left Su Zhe in silence. If Grand Prince Ji could save his nephew's posthumous son even though he didn't know at all the truth behind his death, why Su Zhe couldn't do the same to his cousin's wife and unborn son, when he knew they're innocence and should be given the chance to live?

[EP46] Yujin and Xia Jiang's son

Grand Prince Ji revealed that if Yujin was born as a girl, he would be enganged to someone's child/ son about his age. Throwback to [EP35], Marquis Yan actually said, "but children all grow up too quickly, if brother Xia's child was still here, he'd probably be like Yujin." Considering the fact that in the past, Xia Jang and his wife were close friends of Marquis Yan, we can assume that Yujin was supposed to engange with Xia Jiang's son.

[EP48] Consort Jing loves Lin Xie?

Let's see how Consort Jing talked about Lin Xie:

She woefully said to Su Zhe: "you used to look so much like your father..." [EP43]

Lin Xie saved Consort Jing when she was bullied by other physicians, even brought her to the capital and adopted her as a sister, hence for her he's her hero. [EP45]

Lin Xie had other name: Mei Shinan. Jingyan asked, "Which Shin, which Nan?," Su Zhe went with Shi as in stone, and Nan as in "Nan-shu" (Nan tree), but Consort Jing went with Nan as in "Nan-mu" (Nan wood). Why didn't she say "Nanshu" too? [EP46]

In this ep, the Crown Princess asked Consort Jing whether she likes the "Nan-shu" (Nan tree) that she was gazing at. Consort Jing answered with a smile that "Yes. I have always loved (it)." Apparently she didn't use any pronoun and so it's not clear what exactly she was referring to. But then it's even more fishy because she didn't just say "Nanshu" to reply Jingyan's question, i assume she was trying to make him not notice that she planted the tree right outside her room, and how she loves to gaze at it as what had been shown in some previous eps! We would never know the real feeling that Consort Jing had to Lin Xie, but obviously it's more than just a woman admiring her hero/ brother.

[EP50] Su Zhe apparently didn't get rid some of the incompetent ministers, he spared the Minister of Public Works (Prince Yu's side) and Minister of Martial Arts (ex-Crown Prince Xian's side) because they showed change and were willing to work better under the new leader.

[EP50] Remember when Emperor selected Minister's Liu Cheng's granddaughter as Jingyan's wife in [EP47], and it all went according to Xia Jang's plan (he claimed he knew Emperor's likes and thoughts on it). In this ep we found out that he actually planted his spies as her wet nurse and probably some maids. Xia Jiang must have thought he could use the Crown Princess to slip an attack on Jingyan, but she is the fierce one! So satisfying to see her and Consort Jing firing all the maid-disguised-spies!

[EP51] I'd like to point out how it seems not many people, at least in the family, remember about Lin Shu's mother, Grand Princess Jinyang, and how devastating it would be for her to see her family being accused and eliminated by her own brother, until Su Zhe said to Grand Princess Liyang in this ep: "You were very close with your sister. I wonder if she has ever entered your dreams" and in [EP53] Consort Jing asked the Emperor if his sister has ever entered his dream too, like how he had ones of Consort Chen and Princess Ling Long.

The amount of subtle forshadows throughout the series is insane, every dialogue, manner even cinematography does matter to build the dramatic tension and suspense that will keep the viewers turning the page, and i believe i couldn't figure everything out here.

Regarding the ending, i'm one of those who can't think of a better conclusion than what they offered here. I'm used to the tragic ending because some of my favourite series had the lead character died, but that's not entirely ruining the plot, instead i found that helps to create a satisfying and dignified ending.

Honestly in my first watch, i felt like they were just trying to make another irrelevant climax as a reason for Su Zhe's death, but a rewatch changed my perspective as i found that it does make sense to have all the enemy kingdoms attacking the Da Liang all at once, they must had heard the news and royal statement clearing the treason charge of Prince Qi, Lin Xie and Chiyan Army. Jingyan and the officials were busy to investigate, the entire city's focus were diverting on the case, the Emperor fell sick, and the country's defense weakened, every oppurtunist wouldn't just let it go, would they? Unfortunately, we forgot that Mei Changsu is the biggest oppurtunist in this series, a patriot in addition. The light in his eyes when he heard the chance to go back to the battlefield for the country, and how he desperately begging to let him go back to the last place he stood as Young Marshal Lin Shu are so heartbreaking to watch. He indeed brought a light of justice and hope to the country and his loved ones, but none of those could remove all of his identity crisis problem and frequent nightmares of the past, just like the lyric of Loyal Blood Forever Runs Red by Wang Kai that goes: "A decade passes in an instant, yet in his dreams he keeps wandering to the past (十载倏忽过几回魂梦旧游)."

While i can say every rewatch makes this series even gets better, doesn't it also make you even harder to move on? Because it does for me. As an avid Asian series viewer, i'm so glad i could find this masterpiece in this lifetime! I wish i can find more series as compelling and wonderful as this one later!!

Note: Some quotes from the series are credited to Lang Ya Bang Team @ Viki

#nirvana in fire #lang ya bang #琅琊榜 #nif #lyb #c drama #series review #this show kills me

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winepresswrath · 3 years

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My absolute WORST Nirvana in Fire fic yearnings all feature Prince Yu I’m sorry but my heart wants a Jinghuan-Jingyan team up in, idk, maybe a universe where things shake out differently and Prince Yu realizes that his wife is pregnant earlier on and for assorted reasons he becomes worried that Jingxuan is going to get reinstated and have them all executed. Meanwhile Mei Changsu is on the run under suspicion for being Lin Shu, and thus Jingyan is in need of a schemer. I just want all of Prince Yu’s plans to involve a casual disregard for human life and for him to not quite parse the sincerity of Jingyan’s objections like you really mean 0 murders? no murder whatsover? Oh no I’ve hitched my wagon to an idiot and now my whole family’s gonna die. I’m a terrible brother who took an inadequate interest in my brothers’ survival skills and moral development and while I knew this going in I never imagined it would disadvantage me personally.

And also I want them to have an excruciating conversation about Prince Qi’s last moments.

#if i have fucked up the jings i'm very sorry i am on a journey of going from #everyone but nihuang is a nickname to #lin shu-gege? LIN SHU GEGE how will i survive #to #when mei changsu calls jingyan by name my heart stops #to lowkey outrage that if the emperor's generation have a generational name i can't figure it out #also what the fuck your name is jingxuan but you are styled prince xian?#nif for block

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muninnhuginn · 3 years

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Prince Yu and Inheritance

So, I actually typed up most of this following my rewatch of Nirvana in Fire a few months back and came back across it the other day. I've tried to neaten it up a bit because I kept going on tangents but for the most part these are just my personal thoughts on Prince Yu and his relationship to the idea of inheritance and his place within it. (I feel like it's more summary than analysis honestly but eh)

Essentially, Prince Yu's thoughts are all tied in with bloodlines and birthrights, something that is implied to have weighed on him for quite some time due to his status as the adopted son of the Empress. In other words, by birth he is no more important than any of the other princes and so whilst it doesn't become relevant for some time, the very fact he was adopted puts him in a more precarious position than it seems at first glance. It's mentioned that when he was young, he asked the Emperor about his birth mother and was shut down and so he never exactly had the chance to address his biological parentage. This all means that at the start of the series, whilst this may have been a sleeping issue, the potential was already there to become the full-on trigger point it later grew into.

So, in the series proper, we start with Jinghuan in a position of power as the "favoured" prince, there to be pitted against the Crown Prince so that the Emperor didn't have to worry about either of his sons trying to get the crown from him. This basically cushioned the worst of his insecurities.

Throughout the series, Jinghuan's support was slowly stripped from him, though he was blinded it to for quite some time due to both MCS's and Qin Banruo's influence. Jinghuan chose to bury himself further in his denial because the alternative was that something had gone very wrong and the people he trusted the most were the people he should have trusted the least (which, as we know, was exactly the case). And then, the tipping point, where the Crown Prince was put out of the picture for good. It was around this point that Prince Yu could no linger in his denial. Essentially, the rug was pulled out from underneath him to show he'd been stood over a pit of sharks all along. His position was untenable and he recognised that Jingyan was the obvious choice for Crown Prince. And here's where the birthright issues kick in. Jinghuan had been labouring under the belief that he wasn't to be Crown Prince due to his birth status (subconsciously? consciously, I'm honestly not sure). From an objective perspective, we can see that this is already a flawed premise. How would Jinghuan have even gotten as high as he had if not for the favour of his father, after all?

However, to Jinghuan, he had been second to the Crown Prince and now he was second to Jingyan. And being second to Jingyan cannot be understated enough in its impact. Early in the series, Jinghuan was very easily manipulated into backing Jingyan in small ways knowing full well that Jingyan's stubborn temperament meant Jingyan would never consider it a debt to be repaid - in other words, this was purely an exercise in trying to garner goodwill with no concrete payoffs. He was only comfortable doing this because he saw Jingyan as no threat whatsoever. And now, the very person he provided support to thinking they couldn't possibly be competition has actually surpassed him. (And it can't have helped that he was manipulated into this; he played right into MCS's hands and now he's aware of it.) To his eyes, he was now second to someone who should be below him, to someone who doesn't deserve to be Crown Prince.

And this all plays into the narrative he's already built in his head about how his father has never wanted him on the throne as he is only the "adopted" son of the Empress. It's a biased solution, of course, but it's an easy one for him to come to that absolves him somewhat of his mistakes. He's bitter at this point, but he decides to give up as he realises he has no other cards to play. MCS was never in his corner. Qin Banruo only wanted him for his position, which he had now lost. He only had his wife and his mother left, and neither could help him anymore (both in precarious positions due to his own previous plotting). And so he planned to leave behind the politics. Perhaps he would have succeeded if given more time - a new setting and a child on the way may have actually swayed him somewhat to grow into a better person away from the toxic environment of the capital. But Qin Banruo discovers at this point about his Hua heritage.

This becomes the final layer of his self-justifying trifle. Once he's informed of his heritage, all his thoughts of how he was never to be Crown Prince because of his birth go from vague speculation (fueled further by huge gap in knowledge about his biological mother) to concrete fact in his head. He has the piece to explain why he was never going to be on the throne. Why there was nothing he could ever do to become Emperor, but to take it by force. And the rest is history.

#nirvana in fire #prince yu #xiao jinghuan #attempted #meta #nif #I kept trying not to go on tangents about the general toxic environment fostered by the emperor #because honestly it contributed so much to basically everyone's actions #but ig I was trying to focus specifically on how prince yu justified it all to himself #anyway miscommunication kills

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multsicorn · 4 years

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For every Nirvana In Fire fan who feels that we were robbed of a post-Lin Shu reveal confrontation scene between Mei Changsu and Jingyan....

I mean, I expected one too!!! But, therefore, I watched the first post-reveal conversation (fight, really!) we did get, over and over again.

Jingyan: This the first thing you tell me this morning? What do you mean by it? The preparation for reopening the Chiyan case is almost complete, the Chiyan army will be deemed innocent in front of the world. Why are you saying that it can’t be like the past?

Mei Changsu: Even if this case is overtuned completely, I can only be Mei Changsu, not Lin Shu.

Jingyan: Why can’t you? As long as you are proved innocent, of course you can regain your original identity. If anyone dares to have an opinion -

and we don’t need to go into Mei Changsu’s bullshit arguments here. Obviously, (I think), the things he says about his reputation aren’t the real reason, or not most of it. He’s still trying to hide his approaching death; he still thinks that Mei Changsu’s unworthy, for real, not just in the public eye...

But, rewinding. Jingyan objects to ‘the first thing’ Mei Changsu tells him this morning. So what is, was, that thing? Presumably something along the lines of ‘I’m not Lin Shu.’

And what would cause that to be the first thing Mei Changsu says to Jingyan, post-throne room excitement and danger, after an episode of not seeing each other? Probably something very very simple. Jingyan greeting him, with happiness and hope, just with, ‘Good morning, Lin Shu.’

Because his best friend’s come back from the grave, and he held it together as long as he had to, and he fell apart - in front of his mother, not Mei Changsu/Lin Shu! - in sorrow, not in anger! - blaming himself, saying, how did I not know, why could he not trust me. And he’s had a little bit of time since then... and you’d think! Wouldn’t you! That he’d be mad about the extent of the lying and the ‘everyone knows but Xiao Jingyan’ show... but in fact, and it breaks my heart wonderfully, he is probably. Just. Happy, to have Xiao Shu back.

(And then Mei Changsu is refusing to be had back! And poor Jingyan is so unhappy and hurt and betrayed! And frustrated and infuriated! He cannot make Mei Changsu do anything, lol, Crown Prince or no, but he just thought for point two seconds that he could have his boyfriend best friend back but Xiao Shu Mei Changsu won’t, it’s the worst.)

#nirvana in fire #mei changsu #xiao jingyan #jingsu #YEP IM STILL ON THIS BULLSHIT #okay okay imma get off the computer now #i'll torment you with my fusion ideas TOMORROW MAYBE

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izumisays · 4 years

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dear yuletide author

Thank you so much for reading this and taking part in this wonderful annual conspiracy! 

First of all, I hope you have a lovely time! If any of the fandoms below pique your interest, I’m delighted already, and ready to hear all the stories you want to tell.

Fandoms: Chihayafuru, Nirvana in Fire, Thunderbolt Fantasy

As for reading preferences, I’m happy with a wide variety of tones and genres, of any rating, ranging anywhere from lighthearted antics to dramatic casefics. But the core of all the stories I love has always been character interaction and interplay of their competences.

How the characters play off each other and bring out their best/worst, how they’d react to a divergence of events, how true they’d stay to themselves in a different setting – I love fanfiction for allowing us to reconnect with our favourite stories time and again by asking these questions. And there are so many ways to do it! To name a few favourites, I’m always game for POV hijinks, a missing scene, a casefic, canon expansion, backstories and what-ifs.

You may notice that quite a few of my requests lean towards shipfic – those, too, are welcome in a variety of tones – but I also tried to include openings for gen ideas if that’s your jam. Additionally, while it is not usually my top interest, I don’t have anything against AUs if there is something that you are itching to explore: I tend to enjoy them for a new aesthetic that fleshes out the favoured character dynamics in a new light, or a fusion that redefines the playing ground to allow the characters to exhibit their core competences in new and exciting ways.

I would be very grateful if you could avoid a/b/o and similar kinktropes, played-straight soulmate fic, and character interpretation that runs contrary to their core values. If in doubt, please reach out to me on anon - the askbox is open!

CHIHAYAFURU: Mashima Taichi, Wataya Arata, Suou Hisashi

You don’t have to include all three characters, but I’d love to see a fic that explores the connections between them better. I’m up to date with all manga scanlations.

Wataya Arata/ Mashima Taichi

In the immortal words of Henjin Meijin, Arata is that person for Taichi whose opinion makes or breaks him. (His wording may have been different, but if I go rummaging into the chapter archive to find the exact quote, I’ll end up binge-rereading year three into the night again, and then where would my Yule sign-up be?) (On that note, what kind of a MASSIVE LOSER waxes poetics about Taichi’s boyfriend problems to Taichi’s MOTHER, whom he JUST met? Suou Hisashi, that’s who.) Needless to say, that paramount opinion was not always great, and neither was Taichi’s general wellbeing.

Good news is, Arata is confident in his manliness, and he has no problem acknowledging Taichi’s ridiculously pretty and not too bad at karuta these days, and he’s also moving to Tokyo. Taichi’s definitely pretty and has an apartment in Tokyo, where a country bumpkin of paramount importance may possibly stay over until things are sorted out… eventually. Hint hint.

Jokes aside, I pine for the dynamics between the two of them. I nearly lost it, reading the Meijin semifinals — and if you can show me a person who saw them bawl as they crawled into each other’s laps on Japanese national television and didn’t bawl in response, well, that person is sure not me.

I’d like to see a story that lets them build and explore that connect. I do not object to eventual OT3, but I think Chihaya is on a quest to find her own footing and pursue other goals at the moment, and I’d really like it if she was allowed to do this (join forces with Shinobu to drag karuta into a professional league, girl!). I’d like to think that in that space, different bonds and relationships can develop and strengthen, starting with Arata and Taichi.

Taichi the overanalyzer, the hardworker and the looker, the golden boy who at some point surely hit that red button, meme-style: you will be perfect at everything, you will have everything, except the one thing that you want above all. Arata appears to be his perfect foil: steady and serene where Taichi’s scrambling and flawed, adorably awkward and disarmingly sincere where Taichi’s groomed, smooth and miserable about his own deceptions. But they don’t see it like that! And they keep tripping each other up so beautifully!

I’d love to read your take on them growing closer and hopefully smooshing their faces together. Roommates in Tokyo? Long-distance friends? Figuring out how to tell your flatmate you’ve been in love with him since you were 12? Established relationship while hijinks happen? AWKWARD THIRDWHEELING WITH SUOU?!

On that note:

Suou Hisashi & (or / - wejustdon’tknow.gif) Mashima Taichi

I cannot believe that ridiculous man. Did you see a grown ass adult swoon because his unrequited disciple I mean not-friend I mean Taichi just up and went to meet his relatives??? To help reconnect them?? One can do things like this?? What next, being able to make phonecalls like an adult??

Does not compute.

I was there, Gandalf. I was there when the story first indicated that we might be getting an unlikely team-up of the world’s weirdest Meijin and Tokyo’s most miserable overachiever. But even in my wildest dreams I did not dare hope to see them sprawled on the carpet on a humid summer afternoon, Taichi comfortable in his own skin and Suou, erm, probably not very comfortable with his fascination :D He did not sign up for this. He, a grown ass man in what must be his early twenties, is too old for this youthful seishun sakura bullshit. And yet it is he who mournfully accosts Taichi’s mom to talk about how this other boy is paramount in Taichi’s universe. He who gets offended because Taichi knowing how to adult and work the social ropes is too sexy and competent. He who finds something compelling in the painful struggle of genius and skill.

Arata - Taichi - Suou

For maximum indulgence of yours truly, bring those into one place. Arata coming to Tokyo and finding Suou a fixture in Taichi’s life how?! Suou being infinitely pissy at the Fukuyi upstart and yet dragging himself to socialize with the boys regardless like a totally-not-pathetic adult with a social life of his own? Arata being mildly puzzled about the antagonism, but in there for the sweet snacks?

You tell me! I delight in my anticipation.

NIRVANA IN FIRE: Mei Changsu, Xiao Jingyan

Is this a complex, narratively inevitable historic tapestry strangling people with its treads, full of delicious politicking and identity porn? Yes, it is.

Is my burning – nay, primal – desire so simple as to smoosh two faces together and watch them kiss? Yes, it is :’)

I mean, I will obviously not say no if the kissing is giftwrapped in the said tapestry of beautiful, politicky plot, but the fever I can’t get out of my system is this: LET THEM KISS, GODDAMMIT. LET THEM BE HAPPY. I welcome canon divergences, alternative endings, fix-its, insert eps and codas where it looks like they would have kissed (erm, or at least confronted each other in a way that would inevitably end with them making out) if only Mei Changsu wasn’t so caught up in self-loathing and fluffy foxfur coats, and Jingyan didn’t talk too loudly about his so dead, so very dead beautiful ex to hear Mei Changsu weep stoically into his beautiful white furs.

I adore Prince Jing. He is 90% cheekbones and 20% heartbroken pouting over his so very dead friends, and all of it noble and awkward and stubborn and deserving of happiness. Mei Changsu is ridiculous, and capable, and twisted into pretzels of his own creation: not above gloating over his enemies while daintily dipping cookies into his tea, he gets too caught up in weaving the tapestry to notice he is a part of it. Pull him off his high horse, Jing! Render him helpless by being yourself! Do something about being hopelessly charmed with each other, through resentment, loss, bitter pining, and narrative inevitability! JUSTKISSALREADY.gif!!

THUNDERBOLT FANTASY: Rin Setsua; Sho Fukan

I LOVE THIS SELF INDULGENT WUXIA NONSENSE AND I CANNOT LIE!

Sanfan is a mixture UTTER GLEE and deep fondness for the genre staples, self-aware and masterful playthrough of all the wuxia tropes in the book, and one goddamn well-constructed story. It plays the tropes straight, calls them out with a knowing wink, walks the tightrope between the two with panache, and just as you are relaxed and enjoying this trapeze show, it grins cheekily at you, sets the discoball on fire and pulls a bunny out of a hat. It’s DELIGHTFUL and fun and lovingly crafted, just like a good passion project should be.

I want anything that capitalizes on the absolutely hilarious dynamics between Rin Setsua and Sho Fukan (and while personally I end up using the Japanese versions of their names more often, please feel free to go with the Chinese names if you prefer). Sho Fukan does not want any of those heroic quests, he’s the human equivalent of been there, done that mood, and he just wants to REST and hopefully dump a bunch of magical murderswords someplace safe. Rin Setsua is a Totally Respectable and Non-Villainous Member of Society, of which he will inform you firsthand in the most high spoken and verbose way possible, and maybe even produce paperwork that has definitely not been tampered with. He harbours no ulterior motives, ever, and does not trail behind Sho Fukan for any reason beyond the pleasure of his company, and his mission to personally victimize and cockblock every morally derelict villain in two countries, by no-one’s request.

Whether you go shipfic (yiss!) or canon levels teamup circus (also yiss!), don’t hold back your horses. Everything about this is Extra, and should continue to be so <3

I am okay with both expanding the canon and playing with AUs/crossovers/fusions for this one, provided they retain the character dynamics. I love the extended cast as well: any characters including the Seiyou gang (and on that note, if you want to write the Seiyou backstory for Shou’s gang that has no Rin in it, you’re welcome as well), reappearance of the familiar faces from Touri (read: Rin’s victim list, past, future and present), original characters lined up and waiting to be screwed over (guaranteed) and rescued (the administration does not bear any responsibility etc etc).

Thank you for taking the time to read the letter, and I’m greatly looking forward to reading your story — and hopefully, getting to chat about these ridiculous and wonderful characters post-reveals :)

#dear creator letter #yuletide #yuletide 2020

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saezutte · 4 years

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yuletide letter 2020

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Oh, hello again. I didn’t see you there.

This year, I have transcended earthly desires and struggled to find any fandoms to request. I want nothing. I wish my cat was nominated as a Yuletide fandom so we could all write stories about her life.

Nonetheless, I have some small requests!!!! I believe you can make me happy in ways I’ve never been happy before. I trust you. Happy end of 2020, the cursed year, I hope you are blessed with rest.

My AO3: saezutte

My public twitter: juncassis

My tumblr: here but I do not use tumblr much anymore, sorry.

Do Not Wants

[note: I have no actual triggers, nothing you can write for me will make me any more depressed or anxious than I already am]

Death (of major/important/beloved characters)

Suicide attempts, self-harm

Rape (outright; OK with dub con, manipulation, noncon short of violent-rape-for-violence-only)

Eating disorders, body shaming

Angst without a happy ending, really too much angst at all

Established relationship

Cheating

Actual Unrequited Feelings

Pregnancy (the actual process; breeding kink is fine)

Scat or watersports

Hard BDSM or any kink complicated enough that the characters would have to discuss it ahead of time

Homophobia as a plot device

Excessive attention to identity or politics, sometimes known as “issue fic”

Note on AUs: I am ok with the usual popular AU tropes but I do not want them combined, e.g. A/B/O is fine and coffeeshop is fine, but I don’t want an omega barista getting his scent all over the lattes he makes for some alpha lawyer who comes in every morning. (Ridiculous example, but you get the point.) For AU/modern settings of fandoms with magic, I often like it when the magic is still there in the AU setting. I also like AUs which maintain the general outlines of the character’s relationships, like if the characters are childhood friends in canon, I like to keep that intact.

General preferences:

I am a pretty basic bitch when it comes to fanfic: I like it when two clueless boys pine for each other through some shenanigans and then lock eyes/lips/dicks.

If you fed a neural net every fanfic written in Stargate Atlantis fandom between 2005 and 2010, the result would probably be some nonsense I’d enjoy.

I love many tropes. Tropes! Bed-sharing. Sharing an umbrella. WASHING EACH OTHER’S HAIR? Confessions where they are having an argument and then one of them yells “Because I love you!”

I love situations where characters are forced to spend time in close proximity and find themselves with feelings.

I love fakeness: fake dating, fake marriage, arranged marriage, marriage of convenience, fake lust induced by sex pollen or heats, aliens make them have sex, whatever.

I love porn, if you want to just write me some quick porn, that’s great. I do prefer (per the established relationship DNW above) that it be first time or get together porn. I know that can make it hard to just write porn, but I don’t need much to be convinced of sex.

Nirvana in Fire (TV)

Requested characters: Mei Changsu, Xiao Jingyan

Note: I also love Lin Chen so if you want to write some MCS/LC or LC/Fei Liu or LC/MCS/JINGYAN OT3??? go for it. I am also a Nihuang/Xia Dong shipper so if you want to put that in… somehow… my gay little heart would be happy. I also like Nihuang/MCS/XJY or MNH/MCS + MCS/XJY but I’d like the focus on the men in that case!

I watched this show because someone recommended this show to me as, like, Chinese Game of Thrones but good. I think it’s genuinely one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. I love plots and revenge and good people doing bad things for justice. Even the ending is good for me though obviously it left me unsatisfied on several points.

I am deeply into sickly doomed genius MCS and every time he got even more deeply ill, I fell deeper in love. Every time he coughs up blood, my heart would race. I love his terrible schemes and stupid self-sacrificing choices. I find watching this show very soothing because I knew he would always come out on top in his schemes. I trust him. I love handsome clueless Jingyan and how he’s just so good (it’s terrible.) I love his mom and how much he cares for her. I love him but he is useless, he needs his Xiao Shu and I need fanfic to restore him to him.

Note: So my limited research on this says that male/male sex practices were accepted and well-known in this time period in history, so I really don’t want them thinking “oh no what are these weird gay feelings.” There are other barriers to them being together, like a ruler or official being overly attached to one person was considered very bad. I am also a big supporter of the socially-approved polygamy of this time period, so I don’t need Jingyan to refuse to sleep with his wife or something out of loyalty to MCS—he has to do it! Or all their plans are ruined! And he can enjoy spending time with her or the concubines without affecting his feelings for MCS—you could explore that complexity in fic if you like.Prompts:

Mei Changsu isn’t dead, he’s hiding again, Jingyan searches for him

They start having sex during the series, the ending is averted [somehow]

Post-canon, MCS is alive and Jingyan hides him in the palace with his consort/concubines to keep him on as an advisor without anyone objecting

omega verse where MCS was an alpha before he “died" but an omega after he came back.

AU where male/male marriage is customary (maybe aristocratic men are expected to have one male and one female consort?) and so MCS decides the best way to influence and help Jingyan in the capital is by becoming his wife or one of his concubines

anything just get them together and happy.

Tokyo Babylon

Characters: Subaru, Seishiro

I read Tokyo Babylon as a child and I imprinted on it deeply, now I love politics, ghosts, stalking, age differences, magic. Within the CLAMP canon, I love TB for its episodic focus on smaller stories, the commentary on contemporary society, and Seishiro being an outright creep. I love onmyojutsu and exorcism and Subaru’s innocence getting ruined. I love the city of Tokyo (where I currently live! but do not be intimidated, I don’t know the city well because we’ve been in quarantine most of the time I’ve been here and won’t judge you for details.) I’m open to fics that comply with X canon or not.

With Seishiro/Subaru: It’s bad but I love that predator/prey dynamic where the predator ends up being hopelessly entranced/obsessed/in love with the prey. My read was always that Seishiro lost the bet and couldn’t admit it—he’s just, you know, killing twins to avoid dealing with his feelings! Relatable! (?!?!) Subaru, I love particularly in his evolution from innocent to adult in love to betrayed. I’d prefer post-TB fic to during-TB fic (so Subaru knows Seishiro’s deal and loves him anyway.) I am also a fan of Hokuto and you should feel free to bring her back to life to troll if you desire.

Prompts:

AU or reincarnation plot where they are Heian period rival onmyoji

Because this is such a heavily place-based series, if you are a writer who likes to play with details of real life locations, I’d be interested in versions of different “Babylons” if you have an idea for it.

Tragic first times post-TB lol

Seishiro is a virgin the first time they have sex

I’d probably love some fucked up dub con for this, however you want to play it

Honestly, do whatever you want as long as you don’t fuck me over like CLAMP did.

プリティーリズム | Pretty Rhythm

Characters: Hiro, Koji

Pretty Rhythm came to me at a weird time in my life. I lived in a house of spiders in Yokohama and did nothing for eight weeks. King of Prism cheer screening transformed my life and I didn’t even know what it was. Then I got weirdly deep into Rainbow Live and the Pretty Rhythm franchise overall. I am a scientist of prism theory. Idk why I like it, it’s just wholesome and crazy and there are penguins and DJ Koo. I love every TRF song because I’m a 90s gay at heart. It’s truly the end point of all media development. The prism world represents the fearsome power of virtual/digital+real hybrid life. Yes, I know I’ve lost my mind. I went to one of the real Prism Stone stores, the one in Harajuku.

Hiro Hayami: one time a fujoshi asked me to describe what types of anime boys I like and the first type I listed was “prince but bad” and my example was Hiro. Hiro is the crazy gay stalker disaster of my heart. He overcomes great hardship to achieve his dreams and foolishly falls in love along the way and he does everything wrong and Koji keeps leaving him. The moment when Hiro is crowned King of Prism in Pride the Hero was one of the top ten moments of my life. I made friends who don’t even know Japanese watch the movie unsubtitled with me on my birthday.

With Koji, I’m a bit guilty of “I want to give the character I love the most the character he loves the most” so I do like him less (it would be impossible to like him equal to how much I love Hiro). But he has many good points that make him perfect, like how he also sucks underneath his chill exterior. I love to see him go apeshit.

I also love everyone else in Rainbow Live, no exceptions. I love all the girls. If you do write the girls, I would prefer they not be paired with the OTR boys. I would prefer they be paired with each other, any combo is good.

Prompts:

this is the sort of pairing where I love fic where they split up and then 15 years later meet again as washed up has-beens but there’s still time for them to find each other

Canon-compliant companion piece showing the “background” of them getting together romantically over the course of the series.

AU where Koji is a prism world fairy sent to inspire Hiro but Hiro is kind of a mess

dirty, dirty porn… let Hiro get fucked

I have a lot of doujinshi with multiple copies of Hiro (a la the Mugen Hug jump) but I’d like something where Hiro gets overwhelmed by many Kojis

They start fake dating as a publicity stunt and have to keep doing it… especially good if it starts when Koji is at max hating Hiro level

Ring Fit Adventure

Characters: Dragaux, Ring

Keeping this one simple: I like to be encouraged to exercise by a storyline and a trainer that never mentions weight loss, lol. The world is fun and pretty and I love that buff dragon.

AND THEN THE PAIRING. I’m sure Nintendo has some market research that told them a certain subset of users are very motivated by enemies who seemed to once be lovers or best friends. I am that user.

What is up with these two? They were so in love! Now Dragaux is a horrible swole bro (not in a good bro way) and Ring is training me instead? I can’t compete with their love. It’s the only time the game makes me feel inadequate.

You can keep Dragaux and Ring as dragon/ring-like as you like. Obviously I’m down with dragon fucking but you can also make him a human fucker too. I play with Ring on the masculine voice setting for maximum BL vibes as I exercise, but, you know, it’s a ring, I don’t think it has gender. Feel free to incorporate the player or other random characters too.

Prompts:

AU where Dragaux and Ring owned a gym together and Dragaux sold out to a big chain of gyms

What happened between them when Dragaux was still captured, pre-game? Bondage… literally??

Ring is always bossing me to train, but I’m really doing all the work. Why doesn’t he fight Dragaux on his own for once?? (because the sexual tension is too powerful.)

Tragic flashback to their dramatic break-up ending with their present day reconciliation.

Player/Dragaux/Ring threesome??? I’ve unlocked the sexercises???

With all fandoms, you are free to disregard the prompts and do your own thing. If you’re not sure about me, you can probably dm seriesera on twitter, she knows what I’m into.

Well, I suppose that’s all for now. Please stalk me online to get more details on my bullshit. I hope you have a nice time.

Best,

Caitlin

#yuletide

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acesgroupchat · 6 years

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So there are many many things that I dearly love about Nirvana in Fire (the costumes, the hair design, the acting, the sets, the characters, etc.), but one of the things I love the most is this:

I’ve seen/read a fair number of political court intrigue stories, and especially lately I feel like we’ve fallen into this aesthetic where Smart and Evil is the preferred ruler archetype. Moral people are on some level seen as deficient because... maybe they won’t go as far? We see over and over again the idea that an effective ruler trusts no one and is absolutely ruthless, and sometimes that straightforward morals are actually a detriment to strong sovereignty. Moral people might be well thought of, but they also die shockingly quickly (I’m thinking of Ned Stark here, I will not lie).

Nirvana in Fire presents possibly the most effective counterargument to this that I have ever seen. We see that Jingyan, who at the start is treated as an objectively poor choice for a run at the throne, grow into an unstoppable force in court. Because he’s honest and hardworking and genuinely cares about his subjects, he’s able to accomplish important things while his brothers get caught up in faction infighting. He learns to play the game a little, and as a result he builds a powerful and effective government. He never loses his essential qualities. He’s honest and outspoken and stubborn to a fault, but he is still able to run the court more effectively than his father, and amass so much loyalty that by the end of the show he wields more power than the Emperor.

On the other side of this we have Xiao Xuan. The Emperor is that cunning, mistrustful person. He watches carefully to be sure that no one gains enough power to challenge him. He trusts no one. This might, in a less thoughtful show, be treated as a strength, but it’s actually his greatest weakness. Because he trusts no one, he is shockingly easy to manipulate. The Chiyan conspiracy was put together with basically no evidence, but it was enough to turn the court upside down, and cost the Emperor his son and heir, Consort Chen, Lin Xie, Lin Shu, and the Chiyan army, along with a whole bunch of ministers and other people. To say nothing of the tragedy, this is a HUGE loss to the emperor’s power base. The Chiyan army was apparently both loyal and capable of taking on an army over twice their size and winning. The Lins were loyal and powerful allies. Prince Qi basically ran the court and ran it well. Losing him plunged the court into thirteen years of intense factionalism and infighting. Xia Jiang and Xie Yu were able to do all of that with a forged note. A more generally trusting emperor would not have been vulnerable in this way.

During the course of the series people also frequently play on the Emperor’s paranoia to serve their own ends. Things that are attributed to faction fighting don’t get dealt with properly because he cares more about maintaining his power base than about actual governance. This loses him the respect of pretty much all the competent people in the government. Because his court runs on factionalism, the only people who can succeed or even survive are those who are willing to participate in seriously amoral politicking, or those who had that as their end goal all along. As a result, there is NO ONE close to the emperor who is trustworthy or even remotely interested in actual governance. Mei Changsu was willing to dive into that and get his hands dirty because he believed in Jingyan that much, but both he and Jingyan were horrified and disgusted by the things he had to do to make that work. For a less ludicrously ambitious agenda, playing the game at that level isn’t worth the risk or the moral cost, so good people self-selected out. This is COSTLY to the court not only in terms of trustworthy people but also in terms of raw talent.

Case(s) in point: The Yans and Jingrui. These are three genuinely pretty remarkable people. Jingrui is an at least competent scholar and superlative martial artist. Yujin has incredible people skills that make him a force to be reckoned with in the capital. He hides it well, but lets not forget he’s one of the people Mei Changsu asked for help in the final phases of his plan. Marquis Yan is a legend in his own time. A diplomat so skilled he turned away an army ALONE. They are also members of the royal family, the emperor’s brother-in-law and nephews. By rights they should be major assets of the court. Instead all three of them are as far from politics as they can be. Jingrui spends huge chunks of his time wandering in the jianghu. Yujin hides behind hedonism, and makes damn sure he’s underestimated by everyone. Marquis Yan abdicated his entire life and all of his responsibilities to hide in the mountains. These are HUGE losses to the court, and these are only the most obvious ones. And these people come out in force for Jingyan. By the end of the show you can really believe that he has not only the skills but also the resources to run a truly effective government

I love this show for SO many reasons. It’s just astoundingly good in so many ways. But in particular I love it for stating and demonstrating SO CLEARLY that a paranoid, machiavellian government is not only less moral, but also less effective than an honest, ingenuous government.

(now with part 2)

#Nirvana in Fire #politics #meta #morality #well this got long

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berrysphase · 5 years

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Nirvana in Fire rewatch liveblog part 10

Eps. 24-25: exits, entrances, and a few thrown teacups

I love this opening scene, when Jingyan formally asks MCS to investigate the Chiyan case; the way MCS asks three times and Jingyan gives the same response each time is almost ritual; it has a solemn, nearly mythic air about it.

Oh Nihuang :( the infuriating old trope "you can't be involved for your own good" bit is turned around here, now it's "you can't be involved for MY own good" which is at least a bit more refreshing, but it's frustrating to have Nihuang just swallow and nod here. She needs more of her own things to do :(

Well, ow, Prince Yu reflecting on the downfall of Marquis Ning is certainly freighted.

It is interesting that Marquis Xie never suspects MCS of wanting to kill him to ensure the secret DOES come out.

The growing intellectual rapport between Jingyan and MCS is so poignant, and Jingyan is really not all that dense. I guess part of what the Nihuang scene is doing earlier in this episode (every damn scene is doing at least three jobs, it's almost enraging how well-put together this thing is) is to underline what thin psychological ice this is for MCS. It's painful to hear Jingyan say "Lin Shu would have liked you, as I do" when you know MCS' reaction is equal parts ";A; BFFS FOREVER ;A;" and "are you kidding me bb!me would loathe what I have been forced to become"

And goodbye to Xie Yu; the way he stands up to go back to his manacled walk is so him and I can't help but respect him for it -- a man stripped down to the strength of his convictions, horrible as they are, and still standing -- right up until Xia Dong steps in and his dignity goes to pot. The perfect exit, well done, show /kisses fingers

Jingrui won't look at his "father" but is still the first to step between him and Xia Dong.

Geez get him out of prison yourself, says the emperor, you're a prince, you have resources. This scene puzzled me at first, even on rewatch -- especially the violence of the Emperor’s initial response, considering he then tells Jingyan to go ahead and use inappropriate influence to get what he wants anyway -- but now I think I get it.

So the thing is the Emperor right now is sick to death of factional squabbling and princes plotting for gain. Part of what he finds so refreshing about Consort Jing, and eh ok maybe Jingyan too, fine, is that they don't do any of that -- they're just there being quietly, reliably exemplary in their respective roles, it's refreshing and peaceful and Consort Jing, in particular, is starting to look very, very attractive as an oasis. When the emperor comes to visit Consort Jing, he catches Jingyan and his mom unawares -- and he doesn't overhear plotting or strategy sessions, like he almost certainly would if he'd surprised Consort Yue or Empress Yan with their respective sons, but rather a deeply fond conversation showing how good a family these two people are, ah it's such a shame they can't see each other more often.

So happy Emperor asks Jingyan what he wants for a reward -- the reward is for being a good son more than for the actual tasks he carried out, and I will swear up and down that he expected Jingyan to ask to be able to visit his mom more often -- and instead Jingyan asks for a political favor. No wonder the Emperor erupts! And "Who taught you that?" -- there are only two options. Option one is Consort Jing, and if the Emperor came to seriously suspect her of political maneuvering, it would be a disaster -- the Emperor views her as a paragon of apolitical poise, and it’s the absolute cornerstone to her plans that he continue to do so. (No wonder she shakes her head here!) And if it wasn’t Consort Jing, then Jingyan is unfilial and scheming, breaking the happy family illusion even more. And Jingyan has survived so long because he has been apolitical -- his past political ties are, as absolutely no one ever forgets, to Prince Qi, which of course is option two, and makes the specter of political ambition in him even more upsetting. The Emperor doesn't calm down until Consort Jing recasts Jingyan's request as an expression of apolitical and filial concern. Even then he is grouchy that Jingyan is asking for something that requires his political stamp - because to him the important thing at the moment isn't authority, justice, suffering, it's, I wanted to be benevolent dad/emperor helping you/us be a happy family and you aren't playing along.

The emperor is in wistful but gross dereliction of duty of his office of state here, while Jingyan cannot be anything but scrupulous; the clash of world views is sharp. Jingyan can't put down his royal responsibilities, and is trying so hard to respect imperial prerogative, and the emperor is grouchy because it's not personal. The emperor only cares about his authority when it's personal, it seems; in matters of routine there is no objection to subversion. And this scene makes me very sad about (dutiful, excellent, conscientious) Jingyan never being able to put the reins down, as Emperor; he needs more people who can help him shoulder the burden are you listening, Lin Shu

Oh I'd forgotten we do get to see Princess Xuanji on screen! And the timeline: the Chiyan army was suppressing the Hua for over a year, oof. We never do hear exactly how she died, do we? Just Fourth Sister's vague allusion that she was unable to live long because of her own brilliance. "Encourage outside invasion" - ah, foreshadowing again, fair marks.

So - what Banruo is doing is revenge; like Marquis Yan, but on a larger scale. Revenge, not justice; destruction is the aim, and innocent people suffer. There are some (admittedly and inevitably anachronistic) holes to be poked in this argument for acquiescence to a colonial fait accompli, but as far as the internal political philosophy of the show is concerned, it is at least consistent.

It is rather stunning to watch MCS lay out the trap he has constructed for Prince Yu and frame it as advice. (And all of this without any overt falsehoods.)

So from a pacing point of view I find it really interesting to note that in the last episodes we got our first shark-fin sightings of Xia Jiang, but in these episodes he’s off lurking villainously in the background while we instead spend development time on the first explicit discussion of the Hua link to the Chiyan plot.

#nirvana in fire #nif liveblog

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aboxthecolourofheartache · 6 years

Note

2, from lin shu/mei changsu to character of your choice?

2, from lin shu/mei changsu to character of your choice? “You’re too young to hate the world.”

Tingsheng takes a leaf from Fei Liu’s book and hides.

Mei Changsu finds him. Mei Changsu is a young man who moves like an old man. Tingsheng immediately feels guilty for hiding in the bamboo thicket behind Prince Jing Manor’s kitchen when he sees Mei Changsu stumble over a fallen cane. The scholar catches himself, panting for breath. Several wisps have pulled free from his otherwise immaculately bound hair.

Tingsheng owes this man his life. The least he could do would be to go to his aid. But Tingsheng himself is the cause of this particular problem, and Tingsheng associates bruises with causing anyone at all any kind of trouble. Sir Su will not beat him. He trusts that much. Nevertheless, the boy tries to make himself invisible in the dappled shade under the bamboo.

Mei Changsu spots him anyway. (He used to hide here himself, in another life. He remembers the place where the kitchen roof juts out, making the cranny behind the woodpile safe and dry even during heavy rains. Jingyan couldn’t find Tingsheng here because he never found xiao-Shu here either, not during games of hide and seek, and not when xiao-Shu hared off to sulk in peace. In retrospect, Changsu realizes that Jingyan - the older and wiser cousin - generously refrained from looking too hard.)

“You’ve run from your tutors, xiao-Tingsheng.” Mei Changsu stands - slightly bent to avoid hitting his head on a low branch - with his hands clasped before him.

Tingsheng looks at the ground. A beetle crawls up to his shoe and starts making the arduous journey around the curve of his toes. “I have no excuse, sir.”

“They say you objected to a history lesson?”

“It was unfair!”

“The lesson?” Mei Changsu raises his perfect eyebrows.

“No… the edict. So many people died for no reason, and it’s not fair!”

Mei Changsu’s heart pounds in his chest. He staggers. Tingsheng catches him, panicking already. “Sir Su, I’ve put you to such trouble! I didn’t mean it, Sir Su! Please don’t get sick because of me, I promise I’ll go to all the lessons! Even if the emperors from a hundred years ago are all cruel I’ll write my reports and I won’t say anything about it!”

Mei Changsu takes his weight off the boy as soon as he is able, transferring his balance to a nearby bamboo pole. “A hundred years ago, you say?” he wheezes.

Tingsheng, caught off-guard by the question, nods uncertainly. He expected a scolding or maybe recriminations for nearly causing one of Mei Changsu’s swoons. Instead, Mei Changsu is looking at him with fond admiration and wonder.

“Xiao-Tingsheng, good child, you are far too young to hate the world. Promise me you will never let what you learn about the past stop making you hope for the future.”

#bamboocounting #Nirvana in Fire #nif fic #lang ya bang #琅琊榜 #nirvana in fire fic

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presumenothing · 6 years

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知否【番外 • 朝歌】

excerpt translated from original post @ lofter

(apropos of nothing, a translation of my favourite scene of this fic because why not, really?)

(context notes: from that fic where Changsu survives the final battle but gets amnesia, emperor Jingyan goes to meet him disguised a commoner, lots of court shenanigans and plot things ensue, very good 10/10 would rec – this scene specifically is from a bonus chapter post-ending, after Changsu has been Minister of War for a couple years, and is surprise-visiting the Capitol Patrol with incognito!Jingyan, because Jingyan.)

Changzhi Alley was not far from the Capitol Patrol, and they arrived in a blink. Mei Changsu and Xiao Jingyan descended one after the other, identified themselves to the soldier standing guard at the door, who stammered hesitantly for several moments: “This… our Commander Lie isn’t here right now, Minister... do you want to come another time?”

“I’m not here to see Sir Lie.” Lie Zhanying was out of the city on business. Mei Changsu had intentionally sent him out, and so naturally knew this, “I’m only here to look around, is that a problem?”

“No, of course not,” that soldier hurriedly stepped aside and said, “Please come in.”

Mei Changsu moved forward to enter, and Xiao Jingyan quickly caught up a few steps behind, said softly: “Army men have their own rules. Be careful, don’t get yourself hurt.”

“I know.” Mei Changsu answered shortly, heading straight for the drill grounds.

Xiao Jingyan shook his head helplessly; as if this looked like he knew it at all. He had no choice but to follow closer. Further behind them both, Li Gang was already thinking about whether he should call Fei Liu over.

This person before them was Chief Mei, was Minister Mei, was Sir Su, and none of these identities would let him charge by himself into the middle of a crowd of army men. Yet there was still Young Marshal Lin, the only one you couldn’t stop even if you wanted to.

On arriving at the drill grounds, they saw a large group of Capital Patrol soldiers practicing horseback archery. Having commanded the soldiers of Jing Manor for more than a decade, Lie Zhanying really did have a way with leading men. Even though he was absent today, this daily practice of the Capitol Patrol was still not chaotic in the slightest, only giving the impression of thorough and meticulous order. Mei Changsu had led men himself to start with, and in these few years as the Minister of War, the number of armies big or small that he’d seen was far from few. And he truly hadn’t seen any with such organised training among those either; not too different from the Chiyan army, even.

“Not too different”, meaning that there was still a difference.

But Qi Meng was with the Capital Patrols today. He was an old hand from Jing Manor, and there’d already been some old offences and exchanges between them when Mei Changsu had been Su Zhe. Now, seeing Minister Mei having come alongside His Majesty, he immediately put down his bow and arrow, ran over and asked brashly: “Minister Mei, how are you free to come over today?”

He’d grown some brain in these few years, at any rate, and didn’t blurt “Sir Su” once he spoke, nor did he directly mention the identity of Xiao Jingyan, who stood behind Mei Changsu in a commoner’s clothes. His Majesty the Emperor was immeasurably relieved by this.

But Xiao Jingyan could no longer feel relief, very soon after.

Mei Changsu nodded, smiling: “The year is ending soon, I thought I’d come give the men my new year’s greetings a little earlier.”

“Oh, oh.” Qi Meng agreed, then did an idiotic thing in the next moment. He turned his head and cried loudly, “Over here, brothers, Minister Mei came to wish everyone an early new year!”

In a hubbub of sound, the previously crowded drill grounds suddenly emptied of people, all having rushed in front of Mei Changsu, fists in front of their chests as they called: “Greetings, Minister.”

Qi Meng immediately found his enthusiasm: “Come, brothers, let’s put on some good shows for the Minister!”

Xiao Jingyan’s expression turned severe on hearing this.

Possibly in Qi Meng’s mind, “a good show” was just to show off and flaunt. But he’d been messing around in the army since young, had lived together with those soldiers who ranked lowest in the army, and he naturally knew that these few shows here and there were very likely to turn into provocation.

Mei Changsu looked Qi Meng up and down briefly, said: “As you please.”

“Changsu!” Xiao Jingyan warned lowly, hardly caring about his identity any longer.

Mei Changsu only answered with a smile, turned, asked those gathered: “Which of you will start first?”

Before his voice could fade, one thin and tall soldier, apparently with the rank of centurion, had already stepped forward and said: “We’re running horseback archery manoeuvres today, so let’s start with archery. Any objections from everyone?”

“Good!” chorused the men of the Capitol Patrol.

“Then allow me to start this with my inadequate attempt.” That person bowed cupped hands at Mei Changsu, and immediately someone moved forward to hand him a longbow and quiver of arrows. Taking these, that person raised the bow and nocked an arrow, the tip pointed straight at bullseye.

Qi Meng, entirely unaware of what was about to happen, still felt quite self-satisfied as he said: “This here is the sharpshooter of we the Capital Patrol, capable of hitting a willow leaf from a hundred paces. Just you wait and see, Minister.”

Mei Changsu only hid his hands in his sleeves, stance rather composed despite the situation.

A metallic ting, followed by the whistle of wind right after. That person laid the bow down, bowstring still quivering lightly, but that arrow had already nailed bullseye.

The drill grounds were quiet for a moment, then a round of cheers followed. That person turned and bowed again: “There is my inadequate attempt. Please advise me, Minister.”

Mei Changsu lowered his head, lightly toying with the tassel of the warmer in his hands: “Not bad.”

“Please advise me, Minister.” That person only stared at Mei Changsu, and insisted.

He had his own ideas of the situation. Although that arrow had hit home, his actions had not been to standard, with a flaw that was neither big nor small. If Mei Changsu could not see it, he naturally wouldn’t burst out now, but having a good laugh after the matter was only necessary.

He dared bet that Mei Changsu couldn’t tell. This dynasty had always viewed restraint to be in good taste, and practising martial arts as vulgar; which high official still knew how to draw a bow, how to shoot an arrow? And moreover, this Minister of War looked both thin and weak, as if he was lacking from some illness, and not at all like he knew any martial art.

Of course, Mei Changsu did not practice martial arts, but he was not only Mei Changsu.

This was a true case of falling victim to one’s own cleverness, of essentially showing off before a true master. That person didn’t look much older than twenty at most; who even knew what he had been doing back in those years when Lin Shu had been drawing bows on the battlefield, when he had taken the rank of command over millions of army men.

“Your archery skill is very good.” Mei Changsu said slowly, “Save that when you were drawing the arrow back earlier, you only pulled it back to your nose and not to your chin. On the battlefield such a small error counts for nothing, since being able to hit the target is what matters, but when practising on the drill grounds, those rigorous standards should still matter above all.”

“Thank you for the advice, sir.” But that person did not give up: “Please demonstrate, sir.”

The entire field fell quiet at these words. Qi Meng finally understood how major an error he’d made, and hurriedly attempted to mediate: “This… this… Minister Mei is a scholar, how would he know archery? All of you back to practice, back to practice!”

This attempt was worse than nothing at all.

But that person didn’t leave, only held his hand with the bow and arrow out to Mei Changsu. There was not even the slightest emotion in his eyes, but it was more provoking than even provocation itself.

Mei Changsu sighed softly, and said to Li Gang: “Get the Vaindraw bow.”

“Yes,” answered Li Gang simply, and was about to step back when he heard that archer interrupt and say, “What manner of thing is the Vaindraw? Sir Mei, a common child’s plaything is different from a bow worthy of entering the battlefield, how can you treat them the same?”

“Sir is of high status, how can he compete with you.” Xiao Jingyan stepped forward, blocking Mei Changsu behind him, and said coldly, “If you truly want a competition of archery skill, I’ll do it with you.”

The deeply-settled power of a decade as the Emperor slowly spread, and those gathered could not help but lower their heads, not daring to meet it head-on. Even that sharpshooter was no exception. But matters having reached this point, if he backed down now, the one being laughed at would be none other than him. So he could only say, stubbornly: “I didn’t say anything about competing with Sir, merely seeking advice. And Sir does not need to hit the target either, just run through the motions as a demonstration for us.”

Mei Changsu had only been silent. On hearing this, he grasped that tassel lightly, and said calmly: “Only a demonstration, you say?”

“Yes.” That person answered hurriedly.

“Very well then.” Mei Changsu said, “Hand me the bow and arrow.”

“Xiao…” Xiao Jingyan still wanted to persuade, but in the split second when he said this name he understood completely. Yes, he was Lin Shu, Lin Shu of the silver armour and long spear, going back and forth on the battlefield with the whistle of wind. Yet on this day he had been forced into a corner by such insistent provocation over a competition of archery. How could he stop himself?

The words that had reached his lips were swallowed whole, changed into: “You be careful.”

Mei Changsu only patted his shoulder, indicating him to move aside, and answered with a look that told him to rest assured.

Without the Poison of the Bitter Flame impeding his body in these recent years, Mei Changsu’s physical condition was much improved. Though he still feared the cold, still fell ill more often, most of it was non-life threatening. This bow was not a long-distance strong bow either; drawing it back was still an easy task.

The reason Mei Changsu had not dared to lightly agree earlier was his worry that the bow would be too strong, one that needed a little inner strength to draw back. But now he saw it to be only a soft bow for practice, and no longer worried. These hands had not held a bow in almost two decades; on touching a bow and arrow once again, the sensation was still familiar as if it had been only yesterday.

He’d really only wanted to see the others demonstrate, perhaps vicariously relive those days when he’d put on those grand displays in such occasions. But unexpectedly the reliving had become reality, without allowing for him to hesitate or retreat. He could actually make excuses to refuse, but he was unwilling. Who cared that it was only for one moment, that he might lose face; even if he could only become Lin Shu again in this moment when he drew back the bow fully, it would already be good fortune from Heaven. He could not ask for more.

After all, the loss of face was Mei Changsu’s to bear.

Lin Shu thought this rather irresponsibly, I only need to do what I should, and do it well.

Bow raised, arrow nocked, tip pointing right at that bright red dot on the target.

Let one hand go, fletched feathers catching the wind as the arrow flew. As Mei Changsu had expected, it hit bullseye dead centre.

The drill grounds were very quiet, so quiet that even the hissing sound of Mei Changsu taking out a second arrow could be clearly heard.

Drawing the bowstring fully back again, Mei Changsu smiled faintly, and the arrow tip deviated slightly.

Let go again, only to see that arrow go straight through the one shot by that sharpshooter earlier, splitting it into two before hitting bullseye once more.

The third time taking arrows, and this time Mei Changsu withdrew three.

This bow was too soft, Lin Shu frowned, who knew if it could spur three arrows.

So Mei Changsu leisurely tightened the bowstring slightly, and again nocked three arrows on it.

This motion was only most familiar to Xiao Jingyan. Xiao Shu was best at archery, able to fire up to three arrows at once, and all three arrows could split or stay together. Split, they could hit three horizontally-placed targets; together, they could all hit the same one. He himself could only manage three arrows on one target, at most, yet he had not seen someone split arrows to hit three targets for a very long time now.

He was likely the only one who could understand the expression in Mei Changsu’s eyes at this moment. Brimming with brightness, high of spirit.

That was the gleam and brilliance that Jinling had been missing for years, that was the person he had awaited for so long, now returned.

The bowstring shivered, and three arrows flew in three arcs.

Bullseye, on all three targets.

The entire field was silent for an instant. “Good!” someone called out first, and so echoing cries surged up like the tide. Mei Changsu paid it no attention, only stared blankly at the bow in his hands, stood blankly in a daze.

Xiao Jingyan moved forward, put the cloak around him, and said: “Let’s go.”

The bow Changsu asks Li Gang for or tries to, anyway is the one he uses in chapter 45 of the novel during the sneak attack at night, described per langyascribe’s glossary (though I altered the name):

Draw-in-Vain [畫不成] – the mighty crossbow made by the Ban family, currently in Mei Changsu’s possession; its name comes from the Chinese idiom, “there are many painters in this world, but they draw in vain a grieving heart”

#nirvana in fire #nif fic translation #nif #mei changsu #xiao jingyan #listen...... badass changsu is fav #also for the life of me i can't figure out how to translate 献丑 naturally lmao #today on: things i did because i felt like it #also instead of sTUDYING FOR MY FINALS #LISTEN I JUST REALLY LOVE THIS SCENE OKAY #ninja edit fixed some language effups

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orangememory · 6 years

Text

The one where Jingyan gets a Tramp Stamp

Don’t look at me - this is a Langya Hall friends episode, brought to you by Discord chat, my sad attempts at crack and humour, and Lin Shu not being subtle in any fucking way. Be warned for historical inaccuracy and utter trash.

Lin Shu knows he likes Jingyan. I mean, in a very cousin brother-ly, best friend-ly way, hugging tight while bedding down together every night-ly way of course. Some say that he should protect the Seventh Prince in a liege-servant-ly way as well, but fuck their entrenched ideas of hierarchy.

Jingyan is a strong boy, he doesn’t need any protecting. (Except from Nihuang and Dong-jie and Auntie Jing who can hand all the boys their asses on a shining, golden platter and their victims will still say thank you afterwards.)

But as they grow older, Lin Shu finds his notions of ‘Jingyan doesn’t need protecting’ increasingly challenged. It particularly perplexes him once Jingyan’s voice breaks - because even though the seventh prince is still gangly and pimply - men and women start flocking to him like he’s the last tasty morsel on this planet. Women start dropping their hastily-embroidered handkerchieves around Jingyan, and men start listening to Jingyan’s boring discourses with rapt attention, inching ever closer to him, till one offensive asshole is almost in Jingyan’s lap one day and Lin Shu almost bursts a vein and a pimple reigning in his anger.

(It’s that annoying, slutty Lin Chen who is visiting the Lin Manor with his dad - and Lin Shu hates all of him just as much as he likes Jingyan. The flowing hair and the flowing sword movements - and the rather unsubtle gestures with his tongue and cheeks and hands which imply...pleasurable activities he wants to undertake with Lin Shu’s Jingyan - which is never going to be possible because Lin Shu would roast Lin Chen slowly over a fire if he ever got that close to Jingyan.

But Lin Chen did get that close to Jingyan, and Lin Shu almost killed him before he remembered his dad and Uncle Lin would whoop his ass. Lin Shu likes his ass very much, thank you, it’s a good cushion for Jingyan’s legs to rest at night when he wraps them around Lin Shu while bedding down together.)

Lin Shu manages to only put an itching powder in Lin Chen’s bath and fend off all the men with the butt of his sword, but there is only so much a Young Marshal like himself can do about the rest of the fanboys and and girls.

So he spreads rumours of Jingyan having horrible ailments, diseases of the skin, the genitals, nasty warts and a crude disposition. The bride/husband price for an Imperial Prince soon goes waaaaaay below average, but there are still people thirsty enough to lust after Jingyan - mainly because of that fucking velvet, suddenly-erupted baritone voice, and somewhat because an Imperial Prince will still be rolling in cash.

Lin Shu cannot take this. He thought he had all his bases covered when it came to keeping Jingyan’s virtue intact. He even slept and bathed and dressed with Jingyan for god’s sake, so sneaky interlopers like that itchy Lin Chen could not intrude on Jingyan’s personal space. It was at this time, Lin Shu decided it was time for a more permanent solution.

I mean, if he somehow marked Jingyan with something that would keep all these suitors away - a light scar on Jingyan’s face would be painful and excessive, maybe some mark across his chest or hands? Some kind of lettering just like in all the painful, somewhat porny soulmate AU reworkings of popular novels sold at seedy bookstores?

*Boom* That’s when an idea clicked in the mind of the extremely well-read (in porn, at least) Young Marshal Lin Shu. Lettering, a mark - it would not be something the Great Confucius would like - injuring the body your parents would give you. It was only done to criminals and slaves - and sometimes by the ladies and gentlemen of the night for better eyebrows and lips, but a tattoo would solve all of Lin Shu’s problems! Jingyan would bear this mark forever, and everyone who tried to get close to him would know not to mess with Young Marshal Lin Shu’s property.

Wait, Lin Shu wondered, When did he consider Jingyan his property? (Ever since you tried to eat Jingyan by biting on his cheeks at Age two and called him ‘mine’ of course, you idiot). The Emperor would be furious if he ever found out and probably charge even his favourite nephew with treason for daring to call an Imperial Prince his property. Lin Shu wonders for a wild moment if he should wait till Jingyu-ge becomes Emperor (so that he would only be maybe flogged a 100 times and lose feeling in that butt that warmed Jingyan’s legs) - maybe offing his Uncle gently and early would help? Nah, still treason and heartbreak for Jingyan - out of the question, then.

Wait - would Jingyan even agree to this madness in the first place, Lin Shu realised? Sure, he was destroying any hopes for any future possible consorts but Jingyan always went with whatever Lin Shu said - even destroying his principles of brotherly piety when Lin Shu had poured dung into Jingxuan and Jinghuan’s shoes for calling Jingyu-ge a fool. (Although Jingyan’s face may have turned redder than his robes and he may have sniffed back a tear because he liked being irritatingly righteous, not underhanded.)

Exasperated, Lin Shu realised he had too many questions and doubts. The problem of being the most radiant boy in Jinling came with the natural problem he tended to overthink things. Lin Shu thought of applying the great strategic books he had read to this case, but ultimately got distracted by his sordid novels. Again. So he decided to follow the simplest route.

Jingyan was his - at least in all the ways that was not spousely duties. So Lin Shu would use a caveman approach - knock Jingyan over the head (with an intoxicant) and ask him for his opinion on having Lin Shu’s name written on any part of his body. Sober!Jingyan would probably beat Lin Shu for hours, and lovingly tend to his injuries for days. Lightweight Drunk!Jingyan however, liked spilling his guts, both literally and figuratively.

This was a plan. A very good plan.

This was not a very good plan, Lin Shu realised, as a handsy and drunk Imperial Prince was draping himself all over Lin Shu’s body at the ‘House of Entertainment’ the Young Marshal had dragged him to. They were sitting in public view of many other young noblemen and women, glaring daggers at the clearly not-diseased Prince living his life in his best friend’s arms, singing bawdy love songs in his hot voice, to no proper accompaniments, interrupting the graceful dancers who were just giggling in a corner.

If he was sober as well, Lin Shu would have picked up and carted Jingyan off on his back, but then he was not, and Jingyan would occasionally hotly whisper a line of said bawdy love song into Lin Shu’s ears, before suddenly changing tone and screeching the next line loudly to the angry audience. It made Lin Shu burn with anger because who had put such salacious innuendos and songs into Jingyan’s mouth? (It better not be that pretty Zhanying or that cursed Lin Chen, they would pay with their dicks). And how dare those sinful words make everything north and south of Lin Shu’s belly tingle and start to grow uncomfortably hard?

Lin Shu’s delightful ponderances and troubles, which were squirming deliciously in his lap, were interrupted by an unceremonious booting by large men outside the doors of the fine establishment - to loud curses from Lin Shu, of course. Wobbly, tingly and disoriented, with a craving-human-contact pimply-faced Imperial Prince to take care of, Lin Shu was pissed at himself. His plans never failed, but here they almost did. He half-carried, half-dragged the object of his ridiculous best friend-ly affections across the streets, finally flopping down near a questionable establishment for some noodles.

Jingyan fell asleep in his gently steaming bowl of broth. Lin Shu sighed, and took him to wash the vegetables out of his finely, silky imperial hair, that Lin Shu would comb and braid for Jingyan everyday. This.was.not.a.god.day.

“Xiao Shu,” Jingyan drawled in his drunken haze, “Xiao Shu, do you know you and I make a pearl? You’re my pearl and I’m your pearl. You’re my best pearl.”

A pearl? What was Xiao Jingyan getting at? Right now, Lin Shu was just a ball of half-drunk exasperation and self-loathing at his failed plans and sad he didn’t even ask the question that he needed to ask Jingyan.

“Xiao Shu, do you know we make pearls together? My Yan, and Your Shu. Xiao Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....”

This Jingyan came with extra cuddliness, so he wrapped himself tight around Lin Shu’s abject failure and misery and made it all better, no matter the strands of greens in his hair. Sighing, Lin Shu jumped into the snuggle, and let his best friend’s words filter into his brain. Shu, Yan and a Pearl.

A bolt of lightning struck him! Of course! Of course! Why had he never thought of that? Lin Shu was the most brilliant boy of Jinling, and yet the biggest water-buffalo of Jinling had figured out this connection?

Dammnit, this was becoming a good plan again.

“Hey Yanyan, do you think...it’s a good idea to get a tattoo of our name on our bodies? That way everybody will know you belong to someone, and they won’t marry you! No treason as well.” Lin Shu’s reddened eyes glittered with mischief.

“Of course, my pearl. Anything you say.”

Success! Success! Success! Lin Shu was not a failboat!

But... where would one find such a place at this hour?

Lin Shu was not the luckiest boy in Jinling for nothing, for the second angry propietor of the day had come to find his errant customers doing questionable but brotherly things as he was assured, against a wall. He had heard their entire conversation - would they be interested in the ‘Ink Shop’ upstairs, run by his friend? Very discreet, he said. They even catered to spies!

This story is already long and winded-enough, so let me condense this part by telling you where Lin Shu and Jingyan walked up some stairs, found a woman with needles as sharp as her eyes, who gave them some strong alcohol to drink and drew a beautiful, lifelike pink pearl, floating in blue seas above Jingyan’s butt crack and marked an extra ‘Property of Zhu’ written above in red to make the fact more apparent. And no treason!

“My preciousssssssssssss.....pearl,” Lin Shu hisses with an odd emotion and drunken glee as he traces the lines on Jingyan’s hips, and the mistress of the shop looks at him with a mix of mirth and pity. (She later does get pissed though, when Lin Shu asks her for a discount because her fees are too expensive. She kicks them out of the shop after she wrenches out a jade pendant from his belt. Lin Shu wonders if he can recruit her for the army.)

Lin Shu’s plan is finally, excruciatingly accomplished.

Struggling, they somehow make it back to Jing Manor, where Jingyan wakes up with no memory of the previous night and a stinging pain on his lower back. Xiao Shu tells him they fell down some stairs, and then were stung by nettles. Jingyan rolls his eyes at the obviously tall tale, but lets Xiao Shu tend to him carefully over a few days, applying salves across places that made him tingle and blowing cool over it to soothe the skin. (Not to mention, Jingyan may secretly...like Xiao Shu giving him all this attention, especially after Lin Chen had offered to solve the problems of Jingyan’s heart using his Langya Hall analytical expertise and a year’s worth of Jingyan’s salary. Jingyan had felt sorry for the guy when he was itching-powdered by Xiao Shu, but fuck did the mercenary deserve it).

Jingyan doesn’t think much of it after the pain fades, and soon he is to be sent to Donghai. Months away from Xiao Shu, he rues.

“Bring me a pearl the size of a pigeon’s egg,” Xiao Shu asks, a ridiculous request and Jingyan colours because how dare Xiao Shu ask for a pearl so casually, doesn’t he know what it means to Jingyan?

Scared, Jingyan thinks if he blabbed something too much that drunken night. Naaah, Xiao Shu would never let him live it down. Ever. Jingyan would probably find his household decorated in pearls rather glaringly if Xiao Shu would realise why Jingyan liked pearls.

But anyway, Xiao Shu wants a pearl. In a few months, Jingyan will get it for him. And maybe he will tell Xiao Shu the meaning behind it as well. Maybe.

Lin Shu watches Jingyan depart in the early sunrise. He will be back, with fancy pearls! Yes! He can use it to replace the jade pendant on his belt, extracted by that mysterious Mistress of Ink.

He can’t wait for Jingyan to discover his tattoo, the fool. By the time he blows his top, Lin Shu will be far, far away. Well, at least then the world will know Xiao Jingyan with his gangly limbs and velvet voice is taken - he is Lin Shu’s property, in a cousin-brother-ly, best friend-ly way, of course.

*****

Jingyan doesn’t uncover the tattoo until two years after Chiyan, mainly because he was too heart-sick and full body bronze mirrors were luxuries in the battlefield. One day, he is injured across his back, and Zhanying and the doctor are shocked by the rather...indelicate declaration across the Prince’s body parts.

Jingyan is not shocked, but he becomes rather sad and bursts into tears.

Jingyan bursts into tears because of course, this has to be Lin Shu’s doing. He both loves and hates Lin Shu for doing this to him and then dying on him.

Lin Shu left his mark on Jingyan’s body and expected him to live on after that?

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all.

*****

Prince Jing and Sir Su have been fighting a cold war over the last few days, mainly about some officials to be purged and some policies where they have to take a step back. Xiao Jingyan isn’t a complete fool, but he has above-board solutions to the clearly duplicitous dealings proposed by the Divine Talent.

“Ha, ha, ha! His Highness and Sir Su can always reach a compromise, you needn’t fight like spouses,” says General Meng rather haltingly to soothe their fight, and Prince Jing scratches his head at the obviously strange choice of words.

Sir Su sends Li Gang with a formal apology and invite through the tunnel, and things thaw a little bit in Prince Jing’s heart. Sometimes his strategist has to understand his ideas as well. Well, Jingyan gloats a bit in his victory, and draws things out, promising to meet in a few days when he is not busy.

That evening, Jingyan finds Fei Liu playing in his manor with Tingsheng, teaching him how to steal flowers. Not a very good practice for his imperial nephew, however Fei Liu if nothing, is a good and patient friend to Tingsheng. Seeing them run and play only reminds Jingyan of happier times in his life.

Seeing Fei Liu looking sourly at him, Jingyan feels a pang of pain, and decides to relent a bit and ask after Sir Su’s health.

“Su-gege angry! Then sad! Then coughing! Then angry! Then Sad! All because of water-buffalo!” The boy’s bristling, and Jingyan winces under his glare, while Tingsheng shakes in silent laughter at the old nickname.

“He’s coughing? Is he better now?” Jingyan asks with genuine concern, because of course, he values the strategist as a good friend by now, otherwise why would he even waste his time bickering and making his feelings known on petty matters? Jingyan would never go to such lengths if he considered Sir Su only a tool, he would declare his intentions and just give the man an ultimatum. He feels very sad he has caused the strategist to fall ill, he should pay a visit at least by tomorrow.

“Still coughing! Saying water-buffalo should pull out the pearls stuck in his butt!”

Tingsheng claps his hands over his mouth and Jingyan stills.

It cannot be. There’s no way Nihuang knows this secret.

That fucking idiot. Jingyan will murder him.

*****

Prince Jing arrives in the Su Manor the next day through the tunnel, and makes polite, even pleasant conversation with his strategist. Sir Su’s pinched look is rapidly evaporating, and he even begins lightly bantering with his prince. (I mean, in every universe, Lin Shu thinks Jingyan belongs to him.)

“I was hoping to apologize to Sir Su by taking him for some entertainment on the Spiral Market Street, there are many unique places that will surely pique Sir Su’s interests,” the prince offered calmly over some snacks, earning the arch of an elegant brow and the barely visible gnashing of teeth.

“Your Highness need not apologise to me for such minor matters, now that all is resolved. But I must refuse Your Highness’ invitation, I fear I am but a weak man to enjoy the pleasures of such establishments.”

“Ah, but I insist! There is a special place I must take you to.”

Sir Su’s expression only stiffened further, as he declared with an icy smile, “I did not know Prince Jing frequented the famous area, what specialty does this place offer?”

Prince Jing bit into a lotus seed cake casually, smiling unusually wide and sharp at Sir Su. “I believe they are very discreet. They are known for beautifully inking people’s bodies with art - particularly pearls on people’s backsides?”

Mei Changsu squeaks indecorously and drops his teacup. Jingyan smirks evilly.

“It’s not fair, you donkey. If I get to be your property, then you get to be mine too. Although I plan to be more direct. ‘This pretty ass belongs to Xiao Jingyan.’ How about it, Xiao Shu?”

Mei Changsu squeals (half-in delight of course) as Jingyan pounces upon him.

****

Mei Changsu doesn’t go to the tattoo parlour for weeks after that, because Jingyan ensures his rear-end is nice and stretched and sore in fifty different ways.

Mei Changsu also gets to see the pearl after twelve years, it has held up beautifully, despite the wrath of the artist. He likes tracing it out with unmentionable parts of his body. It’s fun.

When Eunuch Gao finally helps the new Emperor and his treasured Consort, the former Mei Changsu dress up in their Imperial robes for the first time, he nearly has a heart attack seeing the matching and mysterious ‘Property of Zhu’ on their lower backs. (There is also the hint of a round pink thing poking out but Eunuch Gao NEVER EVER wants to know what that is).

“My precioussssss....pearl,” the Consort whispers to the Emperor before giving him a kiss.

Eunuch Gao thinks he should retire. He has officially Too Much Information by now.

#nirvana in fire #lang ya bang #my writing #JINGSU #trash

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