#i'll also be a philanthropist so that's a bonus | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fourseasonsfigs · 2 years

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Dirty Bag and Snow Maiden

Here we have the fan-made version of the first encounter!

Before we even get started, the name of these figs is the literal machine translation version of the seller's names for these two. The names come from these pastries ("bag" is supposed to be "bun" from what I understand):

You'll recall that there was an official version released of these two that I posted about here. I had just bought the Winter series official versions way back when I was discovering how many fan figs there actually were out there (and the number today far eclipses the number then!). Frankly, I'd be delighted if there was a fan made fig version of every single scene of Word of Honor!

I was lucky enough to pick this set up in the maker's remainder sales, since I had missed it the first time around.

I'm head over heels in love with this version. I'll do some side by side pics later, because I think it's interesting to see how the two sets are similar yet different in their interpretation of the exact same scene.

Here we have a carefree hobo in all his mass of messy haired glory, his most slouchy and comfy blue robes, and his various drinking containers. Here we also have a rosy cheeked young master, dressed in purest white and silver, respectfully holding an elegant folded fan.

The faces. Those huge soulful eyes even from the profile. The cute little ears!

These figs run a tiny bit smaller than most of my other figs, so they seem a little more delicate. I like the slits the maker made in the white robes here - they really emphasize the flat, heavily embroidered front rectangle piece in the original costume.

More bamboo embroidery, I love it. The hairpin here could be the ginkgo one if you squint a little bit.

Figs like this tend to be more stable because the robes help give them a wider base of support, and balances out the weight of the heads. Our carefree wanderer stands easily here, but our elegant scholar takes a little bit of balancing to get him positioned just right.

Here's a close up of the bamboo embroidery and you can see the detail on the belt. There's also a bonus side view of someone's perfect little face. Speaking of which...

Look at him - he has the most enormous soulful eyes I've ever seen in a fig, and trust me, with literally hundreds of Gong Jun figs, that's some real competition. These blue multi-layered robes look drapey and comfortable. The ring of stubble and his frowny little wiggle mouth is perfect.

Here's the beautiful box cards and the box:

Alright, here's the side-by-side pics I was talking about earlier. First up: someone just enjoying the sunshine, with the fan fig on the left and the other on the right:

And now a gentle, soft-spoken and well-spoken philanthropist who couldn't (and wouldn't!) hurt a fly:

What cuties. Ah, I'm definitely due a rewatch of this show.

Material: PVC

Fig Count: 118 (we're only adding the new figs!)

Diorama Count: 7

Snowglobe Count: 1

Rating: Fate let us meet...and fate will reunite us

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

#wenzhou #word of honor #word of honor merch #wen kexing #zhou zishu #a-xu #hobo xu #philanthropist wen #figthusiast #fate has a name and it's wen kexing

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verycharismaticdragon · 3 years

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So, stars were finally in position for me to write up the analysis of WenZhou’s first kiss. I'll admit, on my first read-through it felt very sudden and out of nowhere – but the second time around, having a better understanding of both characters and making sure to read closely, it made much more sense.

Before getting into the scene itself, let’s make sure we are all on the same page about where the characters’ relationships are prior to it. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing, at this point, have been locked into a mutual interrоgation for quite some time, trying to fish out the other’s identity without uncоvering their own. Wen Kexing wants to know how ‘Zhou Xu’ fits into a domino fall of his revenge plan; Zhou Zishu is trying to figure out just what for is Wen Kexing sticking to him.

By this chapter, Zhou Zishu has already determined three most probable options for who Wen Kexing might be, Ghost Valley Master included; moreover, Wen Kexing killing the Ghost who attacked them in the underground cave solidified his suspicion on which of those options is most likely. Wen Kexing, for his part, has already name-dropped Tian Chuang, and also tested Zhou Zishu by offering him a piece of Lapis Armor. So Wen Kexing by this point is almost sure, though he doesn’t quite believe it yet, that Zhou Zishu is honestly uninterested in the whole goose chase. While he initially followed Zishu out of caution, now it almost entirely morphed into curiosity. Can such a person actually exist? Who is he? Wen Kexing is determined to find out.

It’s a bit of a competition at this point, and both of them hate to lose. This is important for understanding the scene.

So, right before the kiss, Zhou Zishu correctly guesses that the Lapis Armor Wen Kexing ‘took for himself’ was stolen by Fang Buzhi, and that Sun Ding killed the thief to get it – as it went missing even as the money was intact. There are many possible ways things might've unfolded, but in any case, if he's indeed the Valley Master, then self-proclaimed Philanthropist Wen is at least in some way responsible for the thief’s death. Not that Zhou Zishu cares for upholding justice; he just sees an opportunity to gain an upper hand in his interrоgation. (And if Wen Kexing has been irritating him by insisting that he’s a good person, really, these hands haven’t killed a chicken much less a human*, well – proving he’s full of shit is sure a nice bonus.)

So this is what Zhou Zishu says:

“What are we to do about this, Mister Charitable Wen? You didn’t kill him, but he died because of you.”

You see, this sentence is designer-made to piss Wen Kexing off. If he ordered the thief dead, this is Zhou Zishu telling him his game was seen through; if he didn’t, then this is Zhou Zishu blaming him for something out of his control; moreover, Wen Kexing absolutely knows Zhou Zishu doesn’t give a shit about Fang Buzhi or murder in general, so this is just blatant, in his face hypocrisy on top of the accusation.

Remember, Four Seasons Manor was an intel-gathering organization first. Private investigators, in a sense. If Zhou Zishu is good at murder, he is even better at interrogating people. And here, he is trying to provoke Wen Kexing into a reaction – people who are thrown off balance make mistakes, after all. If Wen Kexing tries to explain himself, Zhou Zishu will get valuable information; if Wen Kexing reacts with violence, that will at minimum prove that ‘Good Person’ Wen is nothing but a mask, and might even get him some proof for the Valley Master theory.

And it doesn’t not work, you see:

Wen Kexing was no longer smiling, and there was an unreadable flash in Zhou Zishu’s eyes.

Zhou Zishu clearly sees he has struck some nerve, and he gears up for whatever follows. He is pretty much prepared for, say, Wen Kexing trying to deck him in the face like a normal person would.

Except, well, Wen Kexing is his match, and sees right through what Zhou Zishu is doing. So he goes for an outside-the-box option.

Wen Kexing suddenly laughed, his hand as quick as lightning gripping Zhou Zishu’s chin as he leaned down and kissed him.

That’s one way to throw off a cоp, huh.

Wen Kexing turns the game right around with this one: it isn’t a random action, but one precisely targeted at things he knows unsettle Zhou Zishu: physical contact, blatant flirting, Wen Kexing’s close attention… I've talked about Zhou Zishu’s unreliable narration before; yet even as a reader, it’s possible to notice his reactions to Wen Kexing do not exactly match up to his words – and Wen Kexing, unlike us, experiences those reactions without a filter of Zhou Zishu’s inner voice. But to use an example we got to witness: how about that time in chapter 8 when Zhou Zishu freezes as Wen Kexing touches his face, and doesn’t step back until Gu Xiang sees them and makes noise? And that one wasn’t even flirting on Wen Kexing’s part, he was just trying to determine if Zishu is wearing a mask, like Zishu (technically) gave him permission to before. Point is, Wen Kexing knows he provokes a reaction from Zhou Zishu, and he even knows it’s not all discomfort like Zishu claims.

So the kiss is a bit… you provoke me, and it is working, but aren’t you forgetting I also know just how to provoke you?

And, really, Zishu’s words do work, because right after the kiss, Wen Kexing picks up where they left off and argues with the actual content of Zishu’s line, even reveals he still has lingering doubts about Zhou Zishu not wanting Lapis Armor – but the kiss ensures Zhou Zishu doesn’t feel like he scored a definite win over Wen Kexing. It's a reminder that Wen Kexing knows just as well how to one-up him.

So, generally, this is where the kiss came from. Now you know I’m not entirely joking when I say WenZhou’s first kiss was the closest they ever came to having a serious fight – Zhou Zishu intentionally tried to make Wen Kexing angry, Wen Kexing responded in a way he knew Zhou Zishu wouldn’t like… But ultimately, they move on fairly quickly: Zhou Zishu is aware he started it, if upset it has backfired in a way he wasn't able to predict, while Wen Kexing, having won the round, doesn't hold Zhou Zishu’s underhanded interrogation against him.

–––––– * Wen Kexing’s full line was actually ‘those hands of mine haven’t killed a chicken, much less a human, ever since I began wandering jianghu’, which is most likely the honest truth – just omitting that he only entered jianghu recently and was lоcked in the Ghost Valley prior to that.

- tyk meta masterpost -

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A disclaimer so nobody gets the wrong idea. Obviously, the kiss was a diсk move on Wen Kexing’s part. It was a response to a diсk move on Zhou Zishu’s part, but it still isn't a normal, valid, or advisable way to let someone know you aren’t keen on the way they are interrogating you. Kids don’t do this at home etc etc. Explore it in fiction like the rest of us.

#things that didnt fit in: considering zzs' greatest hits in qiye. getting kissed by a guy he actually likes is karma going v gently on him #also wkx's skewed understanding of bоundaries def plays a part in him choosing a course of action here. the last time #wkx has seen hеalthy cоnsensual relationship was when he was nine. hes kinda flying blind for this one #stopping when the other party shows theyre not into it is already a courtesy nobody afforded HIM you know #but this is a hugе topic and deserves its own pоst #tian ya ke meta #wenzhou #wen kexing #zhou zishu #tian ya ke #faraway wanderers #tyk #priest novels #danmei novels

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