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hamliet · 2 years

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Enemies to Lovers: Cezhou's Defeats & Victories

Enemies to lovers. Such a popular trope, and such a well-used one in Qiang Jin Jiu. But, as I said here, the ultimate enemy Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye each face is not each other, nor is it the corrupt dynasty or the Biansha Tribe.

It’s themselves.

Shen Zechuan said leisurely, “I can just admire myself in the mirror; there’s no need for another person.”

“You still don’t know how to have fun.” Xiao Chiye said. “How can self-admiration be as delightful as being admired by me? Both of us have to be reflected in the mirror for it to be aesthetically rousing.”

With glistening eyes rippling with desires, Shen Zechuan asked, “So what’s considered aesthetically rousing?”

“Seeing is believing.” Xiao Chiye checked Shen Zechuan’s temperature. “Try it with me one of these days, and you’ll find out.”

Shen Zechuan is wrong in this passage. He needs to see others around him--especially, of course, Xiao Chiye. Xiao Chiye, too, needs to have Shen Zechuan there to not just be fully alive, but to be fully himself. This begins even before the novel proper begins: Shen Zechuan was saved from the Chashi Sinkhole by his elder martial brother, Ji Mu, and was then immediately captured by Xiao Jiming, the elder brother of his future other-half. What Shen Zechuan lacks, he finds in Xiao Chiye, and vice versa.

What does it mean to lose yourself, and what does it mean to find yourself? Well, let’s look at Cezhou’s losses and victories, shall we? Specifically, their first major military losses operating on their own: to Huo Lingyun and to Hasen, and then their final military victories on their own: over Qudu and over Hasen.

Defeat: Huo Lingyun and Hasen 1.0

Both Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye experience a defeat at their first conflict with Huo Lingyun and Hasen. The difference, of course, is that Xiao Chiye’s defeat is in-person, while Shen Zechuan’s defeat is via his representatives in Fei Sheng and his troops. This fits with Shen Zechuan’s role, as observed by Xiao Fangxu: “Men like this can’t fight battles, yet they can come out on top to stand upon a mountain of corpses amidst a sea of blood.”

Through seeing how Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye interact with these respective foils in Huo Lingyun, Hasen, and Li Jianting (all five of whom claim legacies via seeking revenge for family; in 4/5 cases it’s their fathers specifically), we can see not only the central flaws Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye each respectively overcome, but what the novel is trying to say about what it means to get to know yourself, what it means to create a lover from an enemy, and what victory over an enemy actually is.

Shen Zechuan and Huo Lingyun

How Shen Zechuan finds himself seems pretty clear. Throughout the novel Shen Zechuan slowly gathers allies, who all represent parts of himself:

Ji Gang: desire to live and grief

Xiao Chiye: strength and family

Qiao Tianya: bitterness and loss

Yao Wenyu: physical weakness

Gao Zhongxiong: shame

Fei Sheng: the search for a purpose

Hairigu: his mother’s legacy

Huo Lingyun: trauma

Qi Zhuyin: non-conforming and underestimated

Hua Xiangyi: kindness

This list is by no means exhausted and is simplified, but you get the idea. Not to mention, most of these people have, at some point perhaps with the one exception of Ji Gang, been an enemy or at the very least a rival of Shen Zechuan’s.

Shen Zechuan starts the novel with nothing, with every part of his life seemingly over except for the physical, which is locked up. Of course that’s symbolic too: Shen Zechuan’s primary internal conflict is in locking himself up and hiding his true nature.

Shen Zechuan’s true nature is not fierce either: it’s wounded and empty; submissive, no, but hollow all the same. Yes, he bites back, but because he was first bitten. He has little purpose or drive: yeah, he’s leading a rebellion, but why exactly? He’s not great at answering that question, because to answer that question would mean admitting certain things about himself that he would rather not.

Yet, Xiao Chiye is aware of Shen Zechuan’s true nature from the start. It’s important that Shen Zechuan becomes completely unable to hide it during a physical act (sex) because the physical is Shen Zechuan’s sacrificial mask in other circumstances, but not with Xiao Chiye. Instead, the physical heals with Xiao Chiye.

He could not keep up an ounce of pretense, and what remained of “Shen Zechuan” lay fully exposed before Xiao Chiye. This was a side of him that Shen Zechuan himself could not bring himself to face. All that had to do with hypocrisy, deceit, and hostility was swept up into the tidal waves of desire.

So what is this part of himself Shen Zechuan cannot face? Shen Zechuan has been hurt his entire life. In contrast to Xiao Chiye, he does not need to defeat himself. He needs to embrace and accept every part of himself in order to find his purpose. These hypocrisies, deceits, hostilities, betrayal and loyalty and hatred, are all most blatantly embodied in Huo Lingyun.

Huo Lingyun, like Shen Zechuan, operates from the shadows and masks his true self. He sets up an elaborate plan to get revenge for his father’s death at King Li’s hand, but uses his own body as bait for it (much like Shen Zechuan continually does, to Xiao Chiye’s chagrin: while Huo Lingyun’s bait is sexual and Shen Zechuan’s is violent, they are both still sacrificing their bodies for a cause).

Huo Lingyun is sexually abused by King Li and then by Cuiqing, and then has the woman torn apart by dogs. The woman is the one who raised and sold Shen Zechuan’s mother--even if not as a prostitute, there is certainly a sense of poetry to this woman being finally destroyed by a clear parallel of Shen Zechuan. Huo Lingyun succeeds by acting as if his father meant nothing to him, when in actuality, his father meant everything to him.Shen Zechuan also starts off motivated in part by a father, to prove that “Shen Wei never collaborated with the enemy.” And indeed Shen Wei didn’t, but it was precisely Shen Wei’s intense fear of being seen as collaborating with the enemy that led to him strangling Bai Cha, a woman who was not only Shen Zechuan’s mother but one of the few people who cared for others no matter their heritage.

So, who then is Shen Zechuan really fighting for? Just for himself? He states that this is the case:

“Regardless of who my parents are... I am Shen Zechuan... I am my own nightmare.” ... Shen Wei, Bai Cha. He did not care for them at all.

Surely this is somewhat true, but is this entirely accurate? Shen Zechuan is a highly unreliable narrator, holding the reader at a distance as he holds most people (save Xiao Chiye). It might have been accurate when he spoke it, but it is almost certainly not actually accurate considering he didn’t even know his mother’s story at the time. When he accepts his mother’s true story from Hairigu, he gains new allies in those his mother helped save.

Similarly, when Shen Zechuan accepts Huo Lingyun, he gains another new ally (and invigorate the flagging loyalty of Qiao Tianya). Huo Lingyun is first introduced to Shen Zechuan as a prisoner in shackles too heavy for him, and Xiao Chiye initially dislikes him. (Fei Sheng’s attitude towards Huo Lingyun is a mirror of Xiao Chiye’s attitude towards Shen Zechuan too.) It’s all very much a callback to the first chapters of the novel, and a challenge to Shen Zechuan to acknowledge the parts of himself he would rather not: his weakness, his suffering, and the consequences of his actions.

Everyone mistrusts Huo Lingyun, for good reason, just as they mistrusted Shen Zechuan. Huo Lingyun doesn’t do himself a lot of favors when he insults Xiao Chiye. But, it is then significant that Xiao Chiye stands up to him and helps Huo Lingyun find a place, because this moment reflects how Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan are polishing each other by working together like iron sharpening iron. Shen Zechuan gives Huo Lingyun a chance symbolizes him giving the worst parts of himself a chance to improve, trusting Xiao Chiye to hold them in check.

Xiao Chiye and Hasen

If Shen Zechuan’s motif is finding and specifically gathering, Xiao Chiye’s is in losing. But, he’s a victorious general, obviously, though this by no means comes easily to him. By the time he’s faced his first loss in battle, he’s already lost in other ways:

His home

Tantai Hu (whom he gains back, but the point is that Xiao Chiye has to first lose things to get them back)

His friend, Li Jianheng

Xiao Jiming has been defeated

His own reputation is shot

But how do you tame a wild animal? As is noted by Xiao Chiye himself with Meng, the falcon, through hardships. Torture even, breaking its will, etc. Hence, it makes sense that for Xiao Chiye to tame himself, he has to lose again and again and again.

That said, Xiao Chiye faces no military defeat until he does at Hasen’s hand. And in contrast to Shen Zechuan’s standoffishness creating his own defeat with Huo Lingyun via Fei Sheng, it’s Xiao Chiye’s activeness that creates his defeat:

Xiao Chiye thought he was taking the initiative, but he was, in fact, paralyzing himself. Right from the moment he decided to turn around and head for the Tudalong Banner, he had already fallen into the role of the passive player.

Hasen himself takes note of this:

“His desire to win is too strong... Like my father, he won’t allow himself to cower and retreat. This is his strength, but also his weakness...”

So what saves Xiao Chiye’s life this battle? Well, firstly, Shen Zechuan (even though, as is usual for Shen Zechuan’s battle motif, he’s not physically present):

A loud “THUD” rang out as the blow was blocked by the arm guard Shen Zechuan had gifted him.

And of course, his father riding in to save the day. Xiao Fangxu’s following advice to Xiao Chiye about his defeat is interesting:

“You don’t need seven years to defeat Hasen.” Xiao Fangxu gazed at Xiao Chiye and said, “But you must learn to be tolerant.”

The interesting part of this is that this statement occurs within Xiao Fangxu expressing his insatiable desire to win in warfare. What does tolerance have to do with that?

Because the real battle isn’t physical. It’s inside. I’m not saying it’s a trite “believe in yourself” (on the contrary) but instead it’s about taming yourself for the sake of a broader picture. Taming wild beasts is a motif of Xiao Chiye: he tames Meng the falcon, his wild horse, even Shen Zechuan to an extent, but the one he ultimately needs to tame is himself. He can’t act selfishly. He has to act with the good of others in mind, including his family. He has to act with love, which is not the same as acting with desire (hence why it’s symbolic Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan’s relationship starts with being purely physical and slowly becomes something far more intimate).

Xiao Chiye, much like Shen Zechuan, cannot be motivated by simply wanting to defeat enemies, because often enemies are part of you. He must be motivated by those who love him and whom he loves.

When Xiao Chiye is first brought back to Qudu, he lashes out multiple times at Shen Zechuan because he sees himself in him: an innocent child in prison for the military actions of a father and brother. The only difference is that for Shen Zechuan, it was the Shens’ defeat; for Xiao Chiye, it was Xiao Jiming’s victory. Win or lose; it’s all the same. The children still wind up as prisoners, not just of corrupt kingdoms, but of hatred and warfare and corruption. We see it with Huo Lingyun, with Hasen, with Li Jianheng, Li Jianting, and more.

Xiao Chiye and Hasen 2.0

Xiao Chiye then finds himself engaging in a series of victories over Biansha. Well, victories-ish. Because the motif of losing to be tamed is still there.

Firstly, Xiao Chiye loses his father, but then finds some semblance of himself back when he singlehandedly storms the enemy camp to get Xiao Fangxu’s head back. It’s interesting that he interrupts Hasen as Hasen is pondering the reality of what victory might mean:

To both parties, excessive compassion was tantamount to suicide...

What does strict revenge actually offer? The answer is that it offers nothing.

Hasen had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.

“But you don’t look very happy,” Wulihan said.

“Not quite what I expected.” Hasen held up the bowl with both hands and remembered his war trophy. “I grew up listening to legends of him. He’s invincible, coming from my father’s mouth.”

Killing just continues the cycle. Xiao Chiye getting his father back is, on the one hand, an incredibly risky and stupid move. On the other hand, he succeeds thematically because he’s driven by pure love for his father. He will not allow his father’s legacy to be a head mocked by enemies. Victory is not in killing or battling an enemy.

Xiao Chiye’s subsequent confrontation with Hasen warns him of what could happen:

He stared at Hasen and said, one word at a time, “Give my father back to me.”

Hasen brushed back the red hair that was hanging over his eyes and looked at Xiao Chiye as he said in a cold, detached voice, “Then, when will your father give my brother back to me?”

Xiao Chiye had already sprung closer. He had no wish to hear Hasen speak at all...

Hasen twirled out a new piked dagger between his fingers. He slid those fingers along the cold gleam of the blade and said expressionlessly, “I’m merely returning the favor tit for tat.”

Xiao Chiye has no wish to hear Hasen speak, because compassion has little place in the world of Qiang Jin Jiu’s Dazhou. Or does it? Because Bai Cha’s legacy endures because of her compassion, not in spite of it. Xiao Chiye gets his life saved because of Shen Zechuan’s romantic love, not in spite of it. Xiao Fangxu’s head is rescued because of compassion, not in spite of it.

Yet, Xiao Chiye has already learned an important lesson: to defeat an enemy, you have to learn to think like them. Instead of relying on his own strength and prowess, like he did the first time he fought Hasen, he learns to think like his enemy, and that is what gives him a heads-up (i’m sorry) that something is wrong with Xiao Fangxu.

Xiao Chiye... paced back and forth in the same place and rubbed away those haphazardly drawn lines. He gradually stopped tracing Xiao Fangxu’s path and put himself in Hasen’s position.

To overcome himself, he must think like the enemy. To defeat his enemy, he must overcome himself. Xiao Chiye is as much his own enemy as Hasen is, and everyone realizes this. It’s why the Empress Dowager is convinced Xiao Jiming and Xiao Chiye will turn on each other, why Xiao Fangxu scolds him instead of praising him, and why Shen Zechuan nearly ends up dead from a certain kick. But in each of these relationships, love proves to be an elixir healing them, helping Xiao Chiye paradoxically become more himself and also more like those around him. Chief among these is Cezhou.

Xiao Chiye’s relationship with Shen Zechuan can be seen as symbolic of a new way forward, of making family out of enemies.

Of course, the other party has to be willing, and Hasen is not:

“After tonight, my name will overshadow the Libei Armored Cavalry. I’ll make you people pay back double for what you owed me since the battles on the eastern mountain ranges.”

Hasen claims to be repaying Xiao Fangxu “tit for tat” for Xiao Fangxu killing his brother. But an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. This is the same path Shen Zechuan started the novel on, but thanks to his relationship with Xiao Chiye, has been pulled back from.

We see this thematic line continued through Xiao Chiye fighting two more battles against Biansha.

Firstly, he fights A-Chi at the Chashi Sinkhole by tricking A-Chi into falling into the same trap Xiao Chiye once fell into: being too quick to act. Xiao Chiye even changes the field via literally moving the goalposts to trick A-Chai. He’s learning to see the playing field, the bigger picture beyond his wants and needs. Just like Xiao Chiye’s first loss against Hasen, we see Shen Zechuan’s armguard saving Xiao Chiye’s life.

When Xiao Chiye gets buried in the sinkhole with Lang Tao Xue Jin, it’s symbolic of his primitive, immature, animalistic side being buried. He’s symbolically pulled out of the sinkhole by Shen Zechuan, of course, who is terrified. This accomplishes two things: firstly, instead of losing another beloved person to the sinkhole like he lost Ji Mu, Shen Zechuan is able to pull Xiao Chiye out by his hand. Secondly, it forces Xiao Chiye to experience the human crush Shen Zechuan had barely survived back then, even if only for a few moments, forcing him literally into the experience of someone he once considered an enemy. Shen Zechuan, too, goes from being a physical yet object guard to being a physical presence pulling Xiao Chiye from the battlefield, and saving him from the trauma he himself experienced.

It’s only after that experience, that empathy and Shen Zechuan’s saving him, that Xiao Chiye is able to grow up at last. Xiao Chiye is given the chance to grow via learning how to work with his enemies--whether they are Biansha or even from Libei (Guo Weili, who attacked Gu Jin). It’s telling that this is the opportunity Xiao Jiming offers Xiao Chiye to prove he’s really ready to fully grow up and lead in their father’s stead: can you reconcile with your enemies?

And then Xiao Chiye can defeat Hasen at last. This time, Shen Zechuan is not just present in an object, nor does he arrive to save Xiao Chiye after the battle. This time, he’s a physical presence, because the two of them are fully one now.

That Xiao Chiye will defeat Hasen at last at Duanzhou is a fitting conclusion: it happens in the same place where Shen Zechuan’s nightmare, where the sins of Shen Wei, linger , thereby resolving Xiao Chiye’s need for revenge for his father, and also for Shen Zechuan’s torture after Shen Wei’s defeat and for Bai Cha’s abuse and murder. For Shen Zechuan’s part, he cannot do it all by himself. He can only reclaim his legacy through others (Xiao Chiye, Fei Sheng, Huo Lingyun, Qiao Tianya, etc).

Xiao Chiye also can only reclaim his trauma through another (Shen Zechuan). Insofar as the trauma concerning Xiao Fangxu’s death is concerned, the final battle at the Chashi Sinkhole is not about Hasen and Xiao Chiye, or Xiao Fangxu. It’s about Xiao Chiye first and foremost saving what he loves in Shen Zechuan. And it’s Shen Zechuan’s presence that gets Hasen and Xiao Chiye to confront one another. That Hasen almost kills Shen Zechuan and indeed wants to use Shen Zechuan’s death to taunt Xiao Chiye is symbolic of Hasen recognizing that befriending your enemies is a new way forward, and not being particularly enthused about it.

Yet the ultimate end goal is not accomplished with Hasen’s death. Amu’Er continues to want to kill in revenge, even though he himself threatened Hasen to bring results or face his wrath.

Duo’Erlan waffles between wanting to save her child and wanting revenge. She and Amu’Er both demand that Xiao Chiye give her back Hasen, much like Xiao Chiye demanded that Hasen give him back his father, and so on. The end of Xiao Chiye’s arc is less about killing Amu’Er as it is about sparing Duo’Erlan (a vengeful, angry, hurting person who lost their home and the people they love; aka she’s a Shen Zechuan foil, and a Xiao Chiye one). Xiao Chiye kills the mighty legendary warrior he has always been destined to be, but saves the future he has (raising a child) despite Duo’Erlan’s begging him to kill her if she can’t get revenge.

Shen Zechuan, Li Jianting, & the Role of Emperor

Shen Zechuan’s arc is about his identity, which is not found in the Shens, who rejected him and ignored his existence out of paranoia. It is also not found in a throne or in victory, and it is certainly not found in hatred. Instead, it’s found in acknowledging those who loved him: his allies and their trust in him, his mother and the legacy she left, and the legacy Shen Zechuan builds with Xiao Chiye.

His victory comes when he finds that others need him as emperor, and when he accepts that he can be a good one. One cannot truly become their own person without other people. His victory is in accepting his role with Xiao Chiye’s help.

In a tragic sense, Shen Zechuan also foils Li Jianting here. In the end, she chose to identify herself with her heritage. If her heritage burned, then she would burn with it. She could see no other purpose, and it’s tragic.

Conclusion

Xiao Chiye ends up back in Qudu, but this time he is not a prisoner, but the emperor’s husband. It’s not the circumstances that matter but the people. Additionally, Xiao Jiming sends Xun’Er to Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye to raise as heir, a reversal of both Shen Zechuan’s and Xiao Chiye’s circumstances at the beginning. Xiao Xun’s presence is not as a hostage, but instead as an expression of trust in family, of love.

#cezhou #qiang jin jiou #qjj meta #qjj #shen zechuan #xiao chiye #huo lingyun #li jianting #ling ting #hasen #duo'erlan #xiao xun

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hamliet · 2 years

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Hamliet........! Qiang Jin Jiu is almost done with their English translation..... How do you feel about it....?

I'm LOVING it. Excellently plotted and decently paced for such a wieldy plotline and for so many characters.

I love Li Jianting and she deserves none of what is sure to happen to her. But the unfairness of it all is kind of one of QJJ's main themes, so I see why it's going this way... it's just tragic and unfair, because both she and Shen Zechuan are people I'm rooting for. It's not right that she's being blamed for things like the Empress Dowager dying, but like... I guess it's true that if she is to claim the right to rule on the basis of blood and bear that responsibility because of her ancestors, then she kind of does also take on the responsibilities of her ancestors that are not so cool.

Speaking of Li Jianting and those around her, I was right about Fengquan being Qiao Tianya's childhood friend! I really wasn't sure about that, but I'm excited for their reunion while dreading it because I don't think QJJ is kind enough of a narrative to give them peace. I hope for it, but am not optimistic. (In that case, Huo Lingyun's story is really important, because you can't have the 3 sexual abuse victims all end tragically without sending a yikes message; I'm not worried about Huo Lingyun, so fortunately this is avoided.) I also want a final answer for why Mu Ru killed Li Jianheng.

We have two major battles lining up in the next 9 chapters: for Qudu, and against Amu'Er; in other words, the battles for Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye's legacies. I'm intrigued about the potential parallels that will come from this. And already working on an essay.

#ask hamliet #qjj #qiang jin jiu #li jianting #fengquan #huo lingyun #cezhou

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huasahyo · 10 months

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I have read Qiang Jin Jiu and honestly think I'll never recover

(Spoilers ahead!)

Oh god, where to start this? Maybe I should start with the very begging: I didn't understood shit. I just saw a kid being tortured and lots of information. When I felt it was too much, I went after the translated map and OMG that was so helpful! Bless the translators for that. After looking carefully at the map, things started to make sense.

As the story went, before the end of book one I was not very familiar with all the characters. I kept mistaking Hai Liangyi for Hua Siqian lol. But during my reading I started to take some notes and was never confused again. The thing is, this book has A LOT of characters and some of them are introduced early but only become major players later (Yao Wenyu, Hua Xiangyi...)

Even though this huge ensemble would make characters easy to forget, this doesn't happen. The author managed to create likeable and rememberable characters pretty easily??? I fell in love with many of them at first read, even if they didn't show up a lot. And there were characters that got me completely off guard, I wasn't expecting them to be so cool and relevant, BUT THEY WERE (Fei Sheng, Kong Liu)! And the antagonists were also brilliant, I love a good story where everyone has a point and no one is actually evil: People from Biansha had their truths and in a war there are no right sides, Xue Xiuzhuo wanted the best for Dazhou (even though I can't forgive what the did to my baby Yuanzhuo), and Li Jianting??? WHAT A LEGEND! Also, Feng Quan plot twist left me speechless, what an interesting character. Every character was very human (in the good and bad way), everyone had their own goals and beliefs. I actually might do a second post screaming about every character because I have a lot to say about them. (hello hasen my love)

The Plot??? Perfectly done. AND WELL EXPLAINED! I was always a little afraid of reading novels with a lot of politics, but I really dug this one. The problems with grains, provisions, registry, army and BRO THERE WAS EVEN SOME AGRARIAN REFORM SHIT

The way this author write the MOST well written battles I have read, without using any magic... it's just... I never thought I would be so enthusiastic about cannons, rocks and GRAINS.

The conflicts in Zhongbo could be all repetitive, but they weren't at all. Each prefecture that Lanzhou took back had a interesting story.

The war with Biansha was also brilliantly written. The way Amu'er was attacking Dazhou from the inside out and the scorpions with those hammers??? My man was a genius. Sadly, he could never have predicted Bai Cha and her son.

Talking about that, the family relationships are a great point in this. Seeing flashbacks about Lanzhou, Ji Mu, Ji Gang and Hua Pinging made me CRY! They were so happy... And seeing Xiao Chiye with his brother and HIS DAD LIKE... Xiao Fangxu and Ji Gang best daddies. Fei Sheng and Yin Chang too, what a beautiful chapter the one that they talk after Fei Sheng has a fight with Qiao Tianya.

Talking about Qiao Tianya, it was refreshing to see a novel with more LGBT characters. The secondary pairings were great, they didn't steal the spotlight from cezhou, but were very enjoyable (even though THAT happened between Songyu). I just wished we could have seen more Qihua moments and OH GOD KONG LIU AND LUO MU??? That got me truly off guard, wasn't expecting at all. Also, I found really interesting how Lanzhou basically got a LGBT parade following him at the end, that was truly the gayest empire ever. I have so many headcanons here, let me scream them: Xue Xiuzhuo is AroAce, Li Jianting is a non-binary legend and Huo Lingyun a Bi King. Also, Fei Sheng is not straight. Said it.

The little animals in this??? I WAS TERRIFIED WHEN LANG TAO XUE JIN FELL IN THAT HOLE YALL I THOUGHT HE WAS GONNA DIE. But luckily he didn't. Meng, Hunu, Feng Shuang Ta Yi were all the cutest, I need more novels with cats.

THE CHILDREN - Ding Tao, Li Xiong, Xiao Xun and Jiran. They served chaos, humor and cuteness. I really liked whenever they showed up.

THE LADIESSS - If you have read my other posts you know I love some powerful women. This story did not disappoint me in that sense. Hua Hewei had some despicable acts, but she really got everyone on her hands despite never leaving the inner palace, good for her. Hua Xiangyi is a way better version of her aunt, my girl was smart and cared for the people, an amazing woman. QI ZHUYINNN owns my life, I really adored the fact that she was a badass and that she never hated the fact she was born a girl, slay. Bai Cha was really out there helping women that were sold and their children, that is some real sorority there. Lu Yizhi was so kind, loved seeing her interactions with Lanzhou. Li Jianting was everything, her story was one of the saddest and yet she was doing her best to become a ruler. Duo Er'lan was amazingly brave, even more than Hasen, mad respect for her.

And last, but definitely not least, there is cezhou. I have no words to explain how much I adored these two. The way both of them got their own development and had their own private goals and went after them, so good. They are so well written that I wanna scream. The chapters that are focused on Lanzhou's feelings are not big in number, even when he is the main character, his feelings are shown in discreet ways (the handkerchief!) and most of the time we don't know what he is plotting or thinking. But when we take a peek at what's going inside of his heart, it's... astonishing. And I love seeing how he actually cared for the side characters, even though he doesn't show a lot.

And Ce'an kind of caught me off guard, I thought he was going to be a totally different character but he went and delivered

Xiao Chiye was a perfect fit for Lanzhou and Lanzhou was a perfect fit for Xiao Chiye: they were both in similar situations where only them could understand each other's suffering, and after they leave Qudu we see how much of a match made in heaven they are (not just romantically, but strategically).

THE SEXUAL TENSION AT THE BEGINNING YALL... They were scheming/fighting and flirting at the same time. Iconic.

Read this, you won't regret it!

By the way, I started reading the story in December and finished by March, but I completely forgot to post this! College has been frying my brain these days.

Hopefully I will resume my Sha Po Lang reading and come back here to tell my opinions on the book. (Not sure when though.)

See ya!

#qiang jin jiu #qjj #将进酒 #qjj spoilers #danmei #danmei recs #nana rambles about novels #bl novel #book review #novel review #novel recommendation

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hamliet · 2 years

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Fei Sheng + Huo Lingyun = Xiao Chiye + Shen Zechuan

I briefly mentioned how Fei Sheng and Huo Lingyun are set up as baby!Xiao Chiye and baby!Shen Zechuan (respectively) here, but now that chapter 214 has given us more material on this, I want to talk more about it.

As I’ve said before, the main conflict for both Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan is internal--they are their own nightmares, their own worst enemies. “Enemies to lovers” is the main conceit of the story, not just in terms of Cezhou’s love story but in terms of oh, pretty much every relationship in the story. (How many of Shen Zechuan’s allies were once his enemy or at the very least his rival/disliked him? I think Ji Gang and maybe Yao Wenyu are the only ones who weren’t.)

So what is the point of this? Well, through reconciling with others, Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan are learning more about themselves--which is the ultimate endgoal of their respective (and intertwined) arcs. The story is pretty Jungian--it’s based on alchemy, and the end goal of literary alchemy and Jungian stories is individualization (becoming your own fully-realized person). It also has elements like reconciling with your shadow (the worst parts of you, usually embodied in another character(s) and oh look that’s the essence of Cezhou). And, another archetype that’s come up in QJJ, is the inner child.

Jung says:

The remnants of the child-soul in the adult are his best and worst qualities; at all events they are the mysterious spiritus rector of our weightiest deeds and of our individual destinies, whether we are conscious of it or not.

While not actual children, Fei Sheng and Huo Lingyun are definitely younger!versions of Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan in their best and worst qualities. Working with them is clearly going to offer both some much needed understanding of what Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan lacked as their younger selves--specifically from when they first met and Xiao Chiye almost killed Shen Zechuan. Hence why again, the main antagonism here is from Fei Sheng--because Xiao Chiye needs this reminder more than Shen Zechuan does.

Shen Zechuan is by nature a more introspective character than Xiao Chiye--he plays a good game of avoiding being honest with himself, but when he’s confronted, he’s not terribly likely to deny it. He immediately recognizes Huo Lingyun for whom he is (himself), even when everyone else is like strongly advising him to beware the pretty vengeful prisoner.

“The firearms seized by Fei Sheng were handed over by Huo Lingyun himself.” Shen Zechuan turned the folding fan between his fingers around and rested it on the side of his hand. “This person is interesting; I do have to meet him.”

Xiao Chiye himself, though? Not so much. While Huo Lingyun is fascinated by Shen Zechuan from first sight and Shen Zechuan is also intrigued, Xiao Chiye is at best apathetic to Fei Sheng. Fei Sheng, for his part, however, really admires Xiao Chiye, and hopes to work with him.

Fei Sheng had only wanted to follow under Xiao Chiye’s command in the past because Xiao Chiye had the unprecedented spirit of a groundbreaking pioneer. On the day they rebelled and fled from Qudu, Fei Sheng had done so willingly and wholeheartedly. But Xiao Chiye refused to accept him, so he could only step back to work under Shen Zechuan instead...

All along, he had never been able to understand the trust Chen Yang and Gu Jin had in Xiao Chiye, but at this very moment, as he stood in the wind and opened his eyes once again, he possessed that trust.

Everyone in this world wants to be Xiao Chiye.

But there can be no other Shen Lanzhou!

(you are Xiao Chiye, Fei Sheng, and this is exactly the sort of thought Xiao Chiye would have)

Even so, Xiao Chiye does order Fei Sheng to essentially act as Xiao Chiye (minus the romance, obviously) while he cannot be with Shen Zechuan:

Xiao Chiye’s coldness to Fei Sheng, however, is just like Shen Zechuan’s fascination with Huo Lingyun: it’s a callback to how Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan felt about their own lives at the start of the novel.

Shen Zechuan took two steps to bypass the water puddle on the ground and said, “...Xiao Chiye, even if you try your best to hide it, you are already used to looking down from above. You are no different from the people who look down on you today. And all those eyes on you now agonize you.”

He laughed out loud and patted Xiao Chiye on the back with a palm.

“I seek to live. You seek to die.”

Xiao Chiye ties his life to other purposes and even to Shen Zechuan’s, but he needs to be willing to live as himself to fully mature and become his own person. Xiao Chiye is not quite able to individualize, while Shen Zechuan is ahead of him a bit. Enter Fei Sheng.

Fei Sheng isn’t particularly thrilled with Huo Lingyun. Actually the text directly states that he hates Huo Lingyun for several reasons, namely that he’s ruthless and vindictive and he humiliated Yin Chang with that initial loss.

Xiao Chiye’s enmity with Shen Zechuan starts because Shen Zechuan’s survival caused many soldiers from Libei to lose their lives, and complicated his brother Xiao Jiming’s victory over Biansha:

Xiao Chiye said coldly, “My intent was to kick him to death. Old Dog Shen allowed a bloodbath to happen in Zhongbo. We have been burying those soldiers in the Chashi Sinkhole for half a month, and we are still not done burying them.... Besides, my eldest brother has been carrying out raids for thousands of li.”

Fei Sheng has similar thoughts about Huo Lingyun:

Fei Sheng served Shen Zechuan, and he had plenty of opportunities to render meritorious service in the future when they established a light cavalry, but Yin Chang might not necessarily have the chance. The old man’s hair and beard were all white now, and he only got to battle this one time after waiting several years. But then, a male consort appeared out of nowhere and took most of the old man’s credit with that bit of dirty, underhanded tricks of his.

Fei Sheng was displeased deep down.

(Also, consider how similar their thought processes are on Huo Lingyun. Xiao Chiye:

If Huo Lingyun had not thrown a monkey wrench into their plans with the firearms, Yin Chang would have been able to take down Fanzhou during his first battle; he would not have given Shen Zechuan the opportunity to even tell him to bring his own head on a platter to meet him.)

Anyways, while both Xiao Chiye and Fei Sheng have ambitions of their own, they are genuine in their respect and desire for Xiao Jiming and Yin Chang to receive credit where credit is due, and do care about others not being needlessly sacrificed. Problem is, these sneaky twinks keep ruining things.

Like Xiao Chiye targets Shen Zechuan right away by making his life harder, Fei Sheng uses chains that are noticeably heavier than normal to restrain Huo Lingyun and presumably cause him physical discomfort. Like Zhao Hui, Lu Guangbai, and other Xiao allies (with Xiao Chiye present and supporting them) argue with Emperor Xiande in an attempt to persuade him to execute Shen Zechuan, Fei Sheng subtly argues for Shen Zechuan to execute Huo Lingyun.

By bringing up Huo Lingyun’s feeding of people to the dogs at this point in time, he was tactfully telling Shen Zechuan in a roundabout way that it was hard for this person to be of great use.

Contrary to Fei Sheng’s expectations, Shen Zechuan did not go along with it.

But, there are some differences. For one thing, Fei Sheng does not actually attempt to take Huo Lingyun’s life. Secondly, he and Huo Lingyun end up working together far more swiftly than Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye did. Fei Sheng also bottles up his hatred and doesn’t actually bully Huo Lingyun like Xiao Chiye did with Shen Zechuan. #progress?

Xiao Chiye cast a glance at Fei Sheng but said nothing. Fei Sheng had done a fairly decent job playing it safe in his handling of Huo Lingyun’s matter. He had held his temper in check and did not attack the other man, and even if he could not stand the sight of Huo Lingyun, he did not go around creating trouble for him. As a result, Xiao Chiye was now finally willing to remember and recognize him.

Basically, Fei Sheng is behaving properly in the exact ways Xiao Chiye did not. This is progress--the younger are doing better than those who came before (another theme). It’s also symbolic that Xiao Chiye responds by finally acknowledging Fei Sheng--through seeing how Fei Sheng does slightly better than Xiao Chiye’s younger self did, Xiao Chiye finally feels like he can acknowledge his younger self... but only once he knew he’d grown from whom he used to be, growth that is symbolically represented in Fei Sheng’s treatment of Huo Lingyun.

Furthermore, it’s notable that this comes up right before Xiao Chiye gets a Certain Letter from Xiao Jiming, a letter that asks him to figure out how to work with someone who might be on Libei’s side but is very much Xiao Chiye’s enemy in all the ways Xiao Chiye finds it hard to forgive (hurting someone Xiao Chiye cares deeply about): Guo Weili, who humiliated, injured, and almost killed Gu Jin. (I mean I haven’t forgiven him either honestly.)

However, if he wanted to put the Libei Armored Cavalry to full use, he would have to overcome the obstacle that was Guo Weili. Otherwise, a lack of unity among the generals who were not of one mind would surely lead to disaster.

Of course, Shen Zechuan is slightly further along in his arc and gives Xiao Chiye Narrative Pointers for how to individuate:

Shen Zechuan felt sleepy in the room. With his eyes half-closed, he murmured softly. “Ce’an... This is an opportunity your eldest brother is giving you.”

Under the dim light, Xiao Chiye recollected the campfire in the snowstorm. Xiao Fangxu had clenched his fist right before his eyes, and amidst the flickering light of the fire, his old man had asked him:

“You want this position, but are you truly qualified enough?”

Essentially, Xiao Fangxu’s memory, Xiao Jiming, Shen Zechuan, and the narrative are challenging Xiao Chiye. Now that he’s accepting his younger version, is he willing to demonstrate himself (not in Fei Sheng) how far he has come by figuring out how to work with Guo Weili? To do so, he’ll almost certainly have to again face the uglier aspects of himself and how he used to be (~shadows~). But if he really wants to advance and become whom he is meant to be, then he has to face it head-on.

#qiang jin jiu #qjj #qjj meta #qiang jin jiu meta #cezhou #xiao ce'an #xiao chiye #shen zechuan #shen lanzhou #fei sheng #huo lingyun #guo weili #xiao jiming

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