Obsessed with the difference between novel and show lianhualou and Li Lianhua. Novels usually offer us more insight into a character, because yk it's in their point of view, but for the lianhualou novel it's different.

You watch the show and it opens with a retelling of the story of the great hero Li Xiangyi. We know the vague outline of his backstory, we know how he died. We meet Li Lianhua formerly Li Xiangyi, and we know that he's dying, he wants nothing to do with his past life, he wants to find his shixiong's body. We don't know much about him, only a few important things, but that's okay, turns out he himself doesn't know much either, we can find out with him together, we can watch him say his goodbyes.

You read the novel and it shows you the Jianghu in its glory, at its most human, most ugly. You view it through the view of a hack doctor named Li Lianhua, and how others perceive him. You know some little things about him, like how he's scared of ghosts and how he likes to clean, that he's pretty in an unassuming way and seems trustworthy, that he has 2 friends and both of them are low key bitch as hell. You find out that he's the former hero Li Xiangyi, that he's dying, and you think oh I know who he is now, and then the book ends, Li Lianhua drifts down a river and writes a letter, and you realise, oh, we never really knew him. We don't know his thoughts, his emotions, his past. All we know are some trivial facts about him and the perceptions of others around him. We get to know this Jianghu through his eyes, but we don't know who he is, but that's okay, we're not here to understand him, we're just here to be an audience, to listen to a myth.

Li Lianhua: A-Fei and I are adopting a kid.

Fang Duobing: that's gre—

Li Lianhua: [slamming adoption papers on the table] It's you, sign here.

They won't let him go

But you will regret it for the rest of your life.

THE DEVIL JUDGE | EP. 15 dir. Choi Jung-kyu

HOPE ON THE STREET

"All these years, he’s been alone. You are the only friend I’ve seen him with."

Li Lianhua & Fang Duobing | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

FDB nepobaby undergrad student running late with his coffee

DFS part-time lecturer on the phone

LLH former child prodigy, completed PhD at 21, walking his dog

They crash into each other at the same time, cue romance, gossip, domestic fluff, one the biggest cases of academic fraud you’ve ever seen that ends up murdering so so many lives and careers spanning multiple universities in multiple countries

I JUST CANNOT STOP POSTING ABOUT CHENG YI IN MYSTERIOUS LOTUS CASEBOOK AS LI LIANHUA- HE IS EVERYTHING.

AM I THE ONLY ONE TOTALLY OBSESSED WITH HIM?

Happiness Will Come To You.

Obsessed with Cheng Yi as Li Lianhua? YES.

Art for the lovely fanghua fic

to turn around history (59982 words) by sweet_mintx   For that one scene in chapter 11.

Definitely not my best work but when the inspiration strikes it strikes.

@wannabugi hope you enjoy this art as much as i enjoyed your fic <3

I took some creative liberties with llh’s hairstyle hehe

Okk but Li Lianhua never perceiving himself as a person?

Li Xiangyi is only a myth, a hero, an arrogant catalyst of tragedy. Li Lianhua is just a ghost, wandering in the Jianghu to close his loose ends and finally disappear.

And that's exactly what he does, throughout the drama. Close his loose ends. Until nothing tether him to this life anymore and he can vanish without a trace, not even a body left behind.

His body is already at the bottom of the East Sea, after all.

(But that's not accurate, isn't it? There is something tethering him to this world.

There's a boy with expressive eyes and a hearth that bleeds with love. There's an enemy who's never been only that, who went to the end of the world to save him, and who's still waiting a promise at the shore. There's a dog barking at his back while he leaves the narrative for the last time. There's a home he carved out of his tomb)

But Li Lianhua is a ghost, he must disappear at the end of the story. There never was another end planned.

But we love you, try the people.

He keeps going.

We love you! They insist.

He doesn't look back.

WE LOVE YOU, they scream, cry, try to reach him.

But he's already gone. Another story left for the storytellers.

Tell me, what would be more tragic? That he never believed he was loved? Or that he did, but vanished anyway?

to turn around history (59981 words) by sweet_mintx Chapters: 17/17 Fandom: 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fang Duobing/Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi Characters: Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi, Fang Duobing, Di Feisheng, He Xiaohui, Shi Shui (Mysterious Lotus Casebook), Su Xiaoyong, Shan Gudao, Yang Yunchun, Xiao Zijin, Qiao Wanmian, Guan Hemeng, Zhan Yunfei, He Xiaofeng, Yun Biqiu Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Getting Together, Falling In Love, Alternate Universe - Medical, Age Difference, Slow Burn, Fix-It of Sorts Summary: Li Xiangyi has lived many lives. In his 18th, he finds Fang Duobing on a sweltering August afternoon, in the far corner of the emergency room.   容我再等, 历史转身。   A reincarnation AU with them both as doctors.

the theme is "li lianhua half-assedly reaching out to catch his boyfriends in midair in futile attempts to stop them fighting each other" Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023) | Ep. 8 / Ep. 11

Mysterious Lotus Casebook 莲花楼 | Li Lianhua & Zhan Yunfei in Episode 32 ↳ for @eohachu

to turn around history (58717 words) by sweet_mintx Chapters: 16/? Fandom: 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fang Duobing/Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi Characters: Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi, Fang Duobing, Di Feisheng, He Xiaohui, Shi Shui (Mysterious Lotus Casebook), Su Xiaoyong, Shan Gudao, Yang Yunchun, Xiao Zijin, Qiao Wanmian Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Getting Together, Falling In Love, Alternate Universe - Medical, Age Difference, Slow Burn, Fix-It of Sorts Summary: Li Xiangyi has lived many lives. In his 18th, he finds Fang Duobing on a sweltering August afternoon, in the far corner of the emergency room.   容我再等, 历史转身。   A reincarnation AU with them both as doctors.

to turn around history (55179 words) by sweet_mintx Chapters: 15/? Fandom: 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fang Duobing/Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi Characters: Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi, Fang Duobing, Di Feisheng, He Xiaohui, Shi Shui (Mysterious Lotus Casebook), Su Xiaoyong, Shan Gudao, Yang Yunchun, Xiao Zijin, Qiao Wanmian Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Getting Together, Falling In Love, Alternate Universe - Medical, Age Difference, Slow Burn, Fix-It of Sorts Summary: Li Xiangyi has lived many lives. In his 18th, he finds Fang Duobing on a sweltering August afternoon, in the far corner of the emergency room.   容我再等, 历史转身。   A reincarnation AU with them both as doctors.