The queen had always liked Feng Xin

bonus xianle trio silly under the cut:

This isn't exactly a plotbunny, but I keep imagining the absolute hilarity of a modern AU where a combination of Qi Rong, and her son's friends, and boyfriend constantly being at each other's throats has kinda conditioned Xie Lian's mom to think their behavior is completely normal, while every time she has friends visit, they end up seriously wondering if they need to call the police.

He sees Feng Xin right outside and he's unable to look away from the red in his eyes, nose and cheeks. The sight tugs at his heart and he almost breaks down himself before he reaches out with a gentle hand to cup his cheek.

He caresses the skin with his thumb and whispers "Feng Xin..! No…"

---

He stares ahead, letting his eyes rest as he appreciates how pretty his Highness is even when his eyebrows are knit in worry. His eyes are so round and warm, the slope of his nose so gentle, his hair frames his face so nicely. Its agonizing. It only makes the pain in his chest worse.

"How did this happen.. What did I do wrong.."

Home is wherever I am with you

i love my mom so much she just bought me a xie lian bookmark completely out of nowhere just because it reminded her of the mxtx books and me <333

anyways here's the following convo we had

so. after that, she showed me the other bookmark charm variants, with one of them being a charm with xie lian and hua cheng together

she points at it and goes "i wanted to get you this one, but i didn't know if you'd like it because there's a girl and a guy together."

me: mom, they're both guys

she points at another charm pair with bingqiu

my mom: oh, then this one is a girl and a guy

me: uh- no um. they're also both guys. they're all men. they're all gay

my mom: they all look like women..

me: well, you know, historical china and-

my mom, cutting me off: are you also gay?

me: ??? what

my mom:

me:

my mom: aiyah, it doesn't matter if you are or aren't. just make sure to marry someone good looking, ok? i love you. remember that size doesn't matter. unless it's their credit score (yes she actually said this)

me: ...okay???

but here he is!!! isn't he so cute omg

My Qi Rong headcannon of the day (incorporating my design for him) is that like Hua Cheng, he can change his appearance so that even after he loses his mask in the second book/season, people can’t exactly say he looks like Xie Lian. My design for him really turns him into a goblin so if we pretend he looks like that then he’s intentionally becoming something as far from Xie Lian as he can, but his true form would be much more beautiful and their similarity much more prominent. But in canon he doesn’t actually have enough power to do that I don’t think? Hua Cheng is powerful enough to have multiple forms so maybe Qi Rong can get by with having only one.

And ignoring my design for him, I think this is also why he wears a mask. Pretty boy don’t like being reminded he’s related to Xie Lian.

I also have a headcannon that he was executed by decapitation with the royal xianle family so in the afterlife he has a huge scar around his neck. He’d get pissed off to find it mirrors Xie Lian’s cursed shackle.

In other words he’s trying to be something as far from Xie Lian as possible, even if he has to make himself as ugly as he can to do so.

He’s on my walls now…

OMG XIE LIAN

OMG THEY KEPT THIS

Oh my GOD

THE CONCERN IN HIS VOICE AND ON HIS FACE

HUA CHENG LOOKS LITERALLY TERRIFYING IN HIS RAGE

I appreciate that the animators didn’t draw him “pretty” in this shot

They drew him HATEFUL

Angular, with heavy shadows

Which can almost be called ugly

In a sense that that’s how you draw characters wheh you want to emphasise that they are evil

And this is PERCECT DECISION

Because THIS IS WHAT HUA CHENG IS THINKING ABOUT HIMSELF

He thinks that this side of him IS MONSTROUS AND MUST BE UGLY TO XIE LIAN

YET LOOK AT THE WAY XIE LIAN LOOKS AT HIM-

Heaven Official's Blessing book 4 cover art 🦋

Xie Lian and his mom 😭

I think the most entertaining thing about my mom reading tgcf is that throughout the book she's been giving me her thoughts, and, especially during the plague and fall of Xianle, she sounds so much like the nameless people who judge Xie Lian for his actions. Granted, she's nicer about it, but it's still interesting.

more under the cut cause this is LONGGGG

In looking at Xie Lians actions during that time, I think she forgot that Xie Lian was a child when he was forced to pick between watching them suffer or attempting to help and save his people. Then I saw her comparing it to Hua Chengs maturity when he was little, and it so goddamn interesting. She compared Xie Lian immaturity at a young age to Hua Chengs maturity at a young age, and judged Xie Lian for it, because as a crown prince she had the expectation that he would and should be mature too. I feel like she forgot that he was 17, he was supposed to be immature and young and stupid, he was a well loved child with a good upbringing. He was a child and was allowed to act like one. In short, I find it very interesting that I saw everything MXTX put in there about a society that disapproves of children being children and really act their age, and am watching my mom fall into that very pattern. It's so interesting and I can't wait till she gets to read about the last bit of Xie Lians past cause I might dump this all on her when we do our little deepdive discussion about it lmao I'll update yall on the aftermath.

I love that my mom knows I read gay shit CUZ SHE BOUGHT ME ALL 8 NOVELS OF TGCF FOR MY BIRTHDAY WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!! I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THEY GET HOME!!!

PFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

PLS

XIE LIAN'S goto method of torture - Cooking

thought about sending this meme to my friend who hasn’t finished tgcf with the caption “it’s because Bai Wuxiang teaches him how to cook”

how am i supposed to buy THIS and explain it to my mom 😭

dear mu qing haters,

WHAT.

i think u need glasses....

because u didn't really read the book did u?

there's this thing called subtext,

and i need to you to understand that what a character looks like on the surface,

is not who they are beneath!

...

original post was discussing the difference between donghua fengqing expressions when xie lian was revealed to be fangxin guoshi who committed a massacre. feng xin looked scared, mu qing had what looked like a smile on his face. people in reblogs were hating on mq even tho we all know what this man went thru and how FLAWED his reaction is what makes him the best character in tgcf :)

stan mu qing <3

Yeah yeah, crack ship this, not canon that

WHAT HAPPENED TO TAKING CHARACTERS FROM DIFFERENT SIDES OF POP CULTURE AND MAKING EM TALK HUH?!

In other news, if anyone needs me, I will be making He Xuan from Heaven Officials Blessing adopt Gerry Delano from The Magnus Archives. More at ten.