#bu bu jing xin

[dangermousie]

Oh, brother...aka keeping it in the (royal) family

I recently realized that for some reason “multiple brothers one girl” seems to be a popular category in costume dramas. I am not sure why such sharing is necessary in a polygamous society for fancy royals each of whom can get himself a whole harem, but I am not complaining that it appears any remake of the Hollywood classic “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” would clearly be changed into “One Bride for Seven Brothers, and Some of the Brothers Spit Blood and Die” if it were a cdrama. Here are some of the dramas at issue. 

Liu Shi Shi appears to be the queen of this subgenre to such an extent that I am vaguely wondering if it’s in her contract. We are gonna start with THREE of her dramas:

Bu Bu Jing Xin - Liu Shi Shi has not one, not two, but THREE hot royal brothers, played by Nicky Wu, Kevin Cheng and Lin Gengxin, pine for her time-traveling self. Since this is an exquisite (no, seriously, it’s amazing) period piece about loss and longing, she ends up with none of them, instead of a hot vagely-’cesty gangbang as one might expect from that set-up.

Lost Love in Times - poor Liu Shi Shi, she’s a sexy witch having to pick between William Chan and his shady brother Joe Xu. To make it even trippier, the two actors look like each other, to really hammer the whole “siblings want her” theme.

The Imperial Doctress - why bust what’s not broken? It’s the true and tried Liu Shi Shi and hot royal brothers formula. She’s a doctor who spends most of her time practicing medicine, escaping barbarians and creating feminism, not noticing that as she pines for one royal brother played by Huang Xuan, another royal brother, played by infinitely hotter Wallace Huo, is pining for her.

Gong/Jade Palace Lock Heart - if Liu Shi Shi is the queen of that set up, Feng Shao Feng is the king, what with this and Military Seal, both of which star Yang Mi. Clearly, there are worse ways to make a career than stealing Yang Mi from a royal brother. Here, Yang Mi is a spunky time traveler in the middle of Kang Xi’s sons’ fight for the throne. She first falls for Four but ends up with Eight. In between, she offers to bang Four to save Eight as one does. Gives a whole new meaning to sharing is caring and “have you brought enough for the entire class?”

Legend of the Military Seal - Yang Mi and FSF strike again. FSF is madly in love with his brother’s wife, and since she’s not afflicted by blindness, she shares his feelings. Surprisingly, but delightfully, happy ending ensues. 

Who Rules the World - more like which brother rules awesome Zhao Lusi’s heart. Going by the rule of “hottest brother wins,” Yang Yang gets the girl in a drama that is pretty yum yum.

Colourful Bone - one hot seriously whumped out royal brother and one whiny immature one, oh who should the heroine pick? This drama stands for the proposition that you should protect and save abused people, especially if they are hot men, since they will always turn out to be an emperor in disguise. This drama btw is one giant kinkfest for yours truly.

The Eternal Love - you could make THREE whole seasons out of timetravel and brothers into the same girl, who knew.

Dreaming Back to the Qing Dynasty - if you’ve seen Gong or BBJX, you know the drill. Horde of queued brothers queueing for the heroine.

(Mine and all my brothers’, that is -Ed.)

Princess Jieyou - Yuan Hong narrowly escaped the curse of fancying his brother’s woman in BBJX, being about the only sibling not in love with LSS in that one. But clearly, you can’t fight fate and shortly thereafter he’s got to be a sister-in-law luster in a drama of his very own. He is a barbarian general who falls in love with a woman only to discover she’s to marry his brother. Angst and deliciousness and eventual happy ending (the husband fulfilled the uglier brother’s duty by eventually kicking the bucket.)

The Promise of Chang’an - if you want to watch brothers with the same woman but no happy ending, and have already watched BBJX, I present this recent drama where Cheng Yi gets to, as always, suffer beautifully watching the woman he loves marry his annoying brother. Pretty much everyone dies at the end of this one, going off to a great big threesome in the sky.

Twisted Fate of Love - will Sun Yi pick the delicate Tan Jianci or the sexy as fuck bastard that is Jin Han? Being a smart woman, she picks the latter and my hormones rejoice.

Go Princess Go - this is a drama that parodied every cliche there is, so why not brothers into one woman? Who is actually a man in a woman’s body making it even more delightful!

Ashes of Love - even being divine, with women from three separate realms available will seemingly not prevent love interests being a scarce resource leading to sibling love rivalry. Deng Lun and Luo Yunxi duke it out ostensibly for Yang Zi but in reality for who can suffer more prettily. Deng Lun might get the girl, but LYX wins the suffering crown, so it all more or less evens out.

Princess Silver - are siblings in love with the same woman not spicy enough for you? How about TWINS in love with the same woman? One awesome (Aarif Rahman) and one psychotic (Jing Chao) want our heroine and both marry her at one point. Only the awesome one gets to bang her though. (But the psychotic one gets to stick meathooks through his brother in compensation for not being able to stick...ummm...meathook through the heroine, so it’s all OK.)

Secret of the Three Kingdoms - and now we are gonna go REAL PERV! If twins are not enough for you, seekers of strong sensations, how about IDENTICAL twins? Ma Tianyu replaces his dead identical twin brother as the last Han emperor and gets to woo Wan Qian (whose plan it was in the first place.) At least she doesn’t need to get used to a new face?

We are gonna end here and not get into father and son sharing the same woman a la Empress of China.

(Congrats to Aarif Rahman for getting to bang both his brother’s and his father’s wives on screen. That is an interesting niche.)

#cdrama #secret of the three kingdoms #princess silver #empress of china #twisted fate of love #jade palace lock heart #lost love in times #the imperial doctress #bu bu jing xin #ashes of love #princess jieyou #the promise of chang'an #legend of the military seal #colourful bone #dreaming back to the qing dynasty #go princess go #who rules the world #the eternal love

[sqewed0722]

I didn’t realize Lin Gengxin was in Bu Bu Jing Xin. I watched half of that series but haven’t gotten around to completing it. Now, I have a more compelling reason to finish it. Hehehe.

#bu bu jing xin #scarlet heart #cdrama #cdrama actor #lin gengxin

[tavina-writes]

8 shows to know you

I saw @jaimebluesq make a post about this, and I was like "oh... that sounds so interesting I want to make one" so here I am. This goes in chronological order of when I watched these and they ended up in my brainspace. (I also wanted to make an entirely cdrama list because !!!! cdrama lives in my brain rent free and has since I was a kid.)

Legend of the Condor Heroes - 1983

This is the classic version of LOCH! Made by TVB in the 80s! Turned a whole generation of people into HYS apologists bc this show was written by HYS apologists. Beloved (kind of evil) Wuxia Dilf and Petty Conwoman Daughter remains beloved and cute in my heart. My love for them is >10000.

2. The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan - 2001-2009

The inherent comedy of these three! This series remains one of my childhood favorites and honestly kudos to the actors there's like 145 episodes of this Qing Dynasty political corruption show. (Also there was drama once because my dad lent out the dvds of the third series of this show that he'd bought in Beijing and carried back to the US in a suitcase to a so called "friend" and they straight up never gave it back.)

3. Scarlet Heart/Bu Bu Jing Xin/Startling By Each Step - 2011

One of the most UE UE UE of dramas AND one of the most banging soundtrack OSTs. Tell me that listening to Ivy Yan's "Three Inches of Heaven" 三寸天堂 does NOT make one UE UE UE into the nearest Kleenex.

4. The Story of Yanxi Palace - 2018

In my opinion, theee palace harem drama. As this poster explains there are only like two men in this drama. It's like the opposite of a danmei this drama is so sapphic vibes and I have so many ships and it's NOT FAIR NOT FAIR NOT FAIR. Anyway the reason I could get through this one when I have to persuade myself to think long and hard about Qing dynasty dramas in general is because there's really only 2.5 men here and they wear hats sometimes so I can ignore that they're bald. IN ANY CASE: WATCH YANXI.

5. The Story of Minglan - 2019

I watched this show as it came out and I think it's forever altered my brain chemistry when it comes to writing about historical women and also thinking about history and writing in general. There are no words to describe how much I love this show. The force of 100000 suns. THIS SHOW. I rewatch it almost every year and have since it came out, and honestly like, there are new things to discover every time I watch it. This is an amazingly well put together production and it deserves every episode it has and more.

6. Love and Destiny - 2019

It will be a very long time before they make a xianxia show like Love and Destiny again, with all the lush gorgeous visuals and the lavish costumes plus the classic xianxia reincarnation identity reveal plotline. This was a big budget production and it shows in how absolutely beautiful it looks. I love the main ship in this so much, but I also really really really love the mortal arc of this show (and honestly mortal arcs are kind of ehhh for me overall so anyway this show banging.)

7. The Untamed/CQL - 2019

While this came out in 2019, I was deep in my Minglan-L&D era at that point and did not listen to @autumnslantern who tried to get me to watch this until around like, March of 2022. Which probably is a mistake because now I'm a NHS apologist which could've happened sooner but like, here we are. Beloved flop man....

8. Love Between Fairy and Devil - 2022

This was my favorite show of the past year. This is a xianxia, which looks like it's a fun tropey romcom between star crossed lovers until it sneaks up on you and starts shanking you with a knife. And then you thank it for shanking you. and giving you feels. Anyway I'm so glad I watched this and WHILE the mortal arc is full of clowns....this is just a SHOW.

tagging @shadaras , @fortune-maiden, and @autumnslantern!

#8 shows to get to know me #legend of the condor heroes #the eloquent ji xiaolan #bu bu jing xin #the story of yanxi palace #the story of minglan #love and destiny #the untamed #love between fairy and devil #my posts

[linggluu]

想当年 this made me cry so hard ;;

#步步惊心 #吴奇隆 #刘诗诗 #bu bu jing xin #bbjx #startling by each step #cdrama #nicky wu #liu shi shi #longshi #wu qi long #my gif

[lightsinthemist]

I lose it every time they play the LOTR music in Scarlet Heart

#scarlet heart (2011) #bu bu jing xin #cdrama #every dramatic scene is like “guess we're going to mordor now”

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Bu Bu Jing Xin (2011)

Bu Bu Jing Xin mv - One Persistent Thought

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBCPzULxJTA

#Bu Bu Jing Xin #步步惊心 #Scarlet Heart #Startling By Each Step #2011 #Hunan TV #cdrama #Chinese drama #youtube #MV #Liu Shi Shi #Cecilia Liu #Nicky Wu #Wu Qi Long #Nicholas Wu #Kevin Cheng #Cheng Ka Wing #Zheng Jia Ying

[pizzaandcoffeeintherain]

What's your favourite angst/romance/ enemies to lovers/or hurt/comfort/strong damsel in distress dramas?

#drama #k drama #c drama #the king eternal monarch #princess agents #bu bu jing xin #empress ki #my name #meteor garden #hana kimi #Buffy the vampire slayer #charmed #bones #tiva ncis #Jessica Jones #love between fairy and devil #Lucifer

[gimmeahumandrama]

ㅤㅤ— Чжан Сяо і Го Хаджин вперше прокидаються в минулому.

#червоне серце #приголомшливе на кожному кроці #багряні серця корьо #любителі місяця #червоне серце рьо #дорами українською #bu bu jing xin #scarlet heart #startling by each step #moon lovers #scarlet heart ryeo #liu shi shi #iu

[yello-nailpolish]

Imma be honest, Qing dynasty clothes were always my least favorite era clothes until Yanxi Palace and Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace.

For how many times I watched BBJX, her fucking pink outfit AND THE EMPRESSES NEON GREEN OUTFIT were 😭🤢🤢🤢

#bbjx #bubujingxin #bu bu jing xin #qing dynasty clothes #NO BECAUSE WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE NEON GREEN WITH PINK #ESPECIALLY WHEN THE NEON GREEN WASN'T AN ACCENT. IT WAS THE MAIN FUCKING COLOR #ugly all around #but Yanxi palace had cute patterns #and Ruyi's was pretty too #i dunno just me probs

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

Things that I think about instead of catching up on my drama backlog:

I can’t believe Wallace Chung was nearly the 4th prince in BBJX. Like don’t get me wrong, Wu Qilong is fantastic and BBJX remains one of my favorite cdramas of all time. But Wallace Chung as 四爷 might have actually destroyed me???

#cdrama #bu bu jing xin

[dangermousie]

Watching Lee Jun Ki (the man is 41!!! How?!) tear it up in Arthdal made me think about Moon Lovers that came out in 2016 and brought me back to kdramas after a long long hiatus. I was fucking obsessed beyond anything.

Objectively it was wildly uneven (many supporting characters were acted/written - ehm, tho my biggest annoyance of a character had a hell of a payoff so maybe not.) A remake of 2011 cdrama Bu Bu Jing Xin, which was one of my favorite dramas, it took elegant restraint of the Chinese version and turned it into full blown shoujo opera. Very different and yet so very gloriously designed for my personal specs.

90% of the reason this drama became my obsession was Lee Jun Ki playing Wang So as the epitome of “I can fix him” trope - the man stole the whole damn drama. In the original, the Fourth Prince is an understated bureaucrat, elegant and quiet and restrained (except for a few shockingly effective scenes.) Lee Jun Ki’s Fourth Prince is all feral damage, thorns and violence and yearning. With his mask and his hair and his need for love, he’s the purest of shoujo heroes and how could I resist?

It’s a wildly different take in a wildly different tone and it works. I love both Nicky Wu’s Four and Lee Jun Ki’s equally.

They also changed the FL’s attributes - in the original, Ruoxi is sharp and smart and observant and a perfect lady at least outwardly (and Liu Shi Shi played her to perfection.) But that type of character would have been out of place in the story of Moon Lovers and would have never gone for LJK’s Four. So IU’s take is quite different but unfortunately it doesn’t work nearly as well as the changes in ML character.

There is also the fact that I adored Kevin Cheng’s Eighth Prince and shipped him with FL hard in first half of BBJX and one of the reasons the narrative is a tragedy is Eight’s arc. Kang Ha Neul is a stellar stellar actor but his Eight evoked nothing in me but a desire to brain him from the very start.

Ultimately, BBJX is a quiet, exquisitely contained masterpiece - a tragedy of two people who loved each other and who were compatible in so many ways but where it was still not enough, where the ending is as tragic as it’s inevitable. Four is the architect of his own (and Ruoxi’s) emotional doom and it could never be otherwise. And I wept non stop for the entirety of the last ep. You can love with all your heart a person who also loves you with all their heart and it can still not be enough.

Moon Lovers is not that deep. Sweet girl and damaged boy are not the same. But it’s still gloriously tragic even if in larger than life shoujo-glorious way and I will always love it for both bringing me back to kdramas and giving me basically the deepest desire of my drama id on screen.

PS it’s hard to find a good quality mv of BBJX due to it having come out in 2011 but this one is not bad at all:

#Youtube #cdrama #kdrama #moon lovers #bu bu jing xin

[peridot-tears]

Time Travel AU: Be Gay, Solve Crimes

"Oi, is it true what they say? That you Frenchies are always raring for a good murder mystery?"

Time travel!AU where after Jacob kills Maxwell Roth, he blacks out from sheer exhaustion and smoke inhalation, only to wake up during the French Revolution. He quickly tags along with one Arno Victor Dorian, who's hot on the trail of whoever killed Jean Paul Marat, and he can't keep away even after Charlotte Corday is behind bars. In fact, he especially wants to stay when Arno teams up with Elise De La Serre -- "She doesn't want you as much as you want her, Arnie!"

After a revolution ends and a new era begins under Napoleon, Arno finds himself turning to Jacob as his closest confidante. "Though you may be boorish and reckless, there must be a reason that you're somehow still miraculously alive to bother me."

("This coming from the man who killed a bunch of men just for wine," Jacob scoffs.)

After a long and tumultuous courtship that they try to label as "frenemies," except in 19th-century French, they become dual Master Assassins who serve the people of France -- and the people of England, because fuck Napoleon and fuck the King too -- and make their relationship official.

And they were dual Master Assassins. Oh my God, they were dual Master Assassins.

They spend the rest of their lives sneaking and assassinating, trying to bridge the gap between Assassins and Templars, and though they ultimately fail, their attempts were so influential, even the biggest fanatics of both sides speak their names with respect.

Once they've retired to the Alps as old men, they spend their days in leisure, until the day they go to bed holding hands, and never wake up.

Except Jacob does wake up.

Evie is at his bedside, scolding him for his recklessness, and it's 1860s London again.

He recovers quickly, considering the tragedy that just befell him. Maxwell Roth is dead. That's a pity. Jacob has known better love and a better man than Maxwell Roth.

Even if that man was just a dream.

Until the day he breaks into the rest of Twopenny's personal collection, where he sees several original portraits of the French Revolution. A sharp-eyed painter from that time had managed to spot two men in the crowd -- Jacob finds himself staring at his own face, hiding in plain sight, and though the head of the man beside him is turned, he would recognize that scar anywhere.

And what sharp eyes that painter had. Jacob sees himself in this painting. That painting. Several paintings throughout the years, given away by small tells that only Jacob himself would recognize: The familiar swoop of Arno's frame as he sidestepped a guard. Jacob's godawful sans-culottes disguise. In the blurry distance, Arno performing a leap of faith, given away only by a gold and blue plumage unusual for a bird in Paris.

I'm here, he thinks. I'm really here.

Familiar steps sound the hall behind him.

Jacob ducks behind the painting; it's merely a worker in the building, coming to make sure the collection is as untouched as it has always been. He looks bored. He looks like Arno.

His hair may be cropped, and his scar may be gone -- the sign, perhaps, of a life that's dealt him a kinder hand -- but that bored look has not changed. It's Arno. He's been reborn, somehow.

That can't be it. Arno's gone. Jacob died with him. But Jacob is here, Jacob thinks to himself.

It's too much. And besides, Twopenny's paintings are rubbish, anyway. But Arno-not-Arno won't leave. He's lingering at the paintings, eyeing the details of the brushstrokes with light interest. He always was incorrigible when it came to purveying the arts.

Jacob tries to sneak past him -- Arno-not-Arno's ears practically prick, sharp as the man Jacob married, and Jacob finds himself grabbing him from behind, knocking him out gently.

He lingers just long enough to prop him up by the painting, smoothing out his hair, tucking him in with a nearby tarp because it's winter, Arno will get cold. He can practically hear Arno scolding him for his poor choice of fabric. "That barely insulates anything," he would say.

"It's the thought that counts," Jacob says.

He tips his hat, and escapes the building.

#moodboard #be gay solve crimes.png #assassin's creed #assassin's creed fic #ficlet #french frye #ac syndicate #ac unity #jacob frye #arno dorian #arno victor dorian #idk what possessed me but we've gone full bu bu jing xin #ac jacob #ac arno #assassin's creed syndicate #assassin's creed unity #ac #arno #jacob #tears falling like peridots

[deepfriedscallops]

Ugh when will I finish the next chapter for War God :(

#literally i posted the most recent chapter back in october 100% planning on finishing an outline and bust out another 3 parter soon #instead i stare blankly bc i cannot figure out what to do w the royalty and stuff bc what would sqh do #anyways things should resume in...a month maybe bc i decided sqh will be unoriginal and rip from bu bu jing xin #considering how many shows copy pasta the fighting for the throne with an emotionally constipated 4th prince and dazzling 8th prince #im finally sitting down and 10k words deep into the novel i concieved back in 2017 after some worldbuilding tho #that is why we have a wait bc im incapable of focusing on one damn thing

[linggluu]

10 years man. What a wild ride for them and for us 🥹❤️🫶

#longshi #nicky wu #liu shi shi #bu bu jing xin #startling by each step #步步惊心 #wu qi long

[qserasera]

almost-autumnal weather has me in some kind of mood, so i'm looking for some harem cdrama recs, or at least ones that adjacent to that in a social intrigue/courtyard drama way

i know @tavina-writes Tried to help me with this previously (unsuccessfully :'')) seeing as i had seen like. most of them ; w ; but im just listing out most of the ones i Have seen so maybe someone has some other suggestions?? (*whispers* if @dangermousie has some recs i would love them)

harem/courtyard/social intrigue-related cdramas i have seen legend of zhen huan/empresses in the palace story of yanxi palace story of ming lan (my beloved!!) bu bu jing xin jade palace lock heart the sword and the brocade (went over halfway, dropped) chang feng du love like the galaxy unchained love the eternal love (watched s1 and s2 dropped later) the rebel princess aka monarch industry (watched like 60% of this, dropped)

bonus mention of not harem dramas, but extra dramas i've liked a lot twisted fate of love a dream of splendor new life begins (enjoyed this a reasonable amount) joy of life im not fond of super-tragic endings and prefer happier endings overall, so i've been avoiding legend of ruyi. also prefer competent heroines with all things considered so.....any help with any recommendations??

#cdramas #qserasera storytime

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: The Everlasting Love (2023)

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FQ7vQsBWD4

#The Everlasting Love #良辰美景又逢君 #Er Shao Ye Ni Bu Dui Jin #二少爷你不对劲 #二少爺你不對勁 #Ting Shuo Shao Zhu Xi Huan Wo #聽說少主喜歡我 #听说少主喜欢我 #Liang Chen Mei Jing You Feng Jun #2023 #cdrama #chinese drama #Tencent Video #WeTV #Youtube #full version #free full version #web series #short length series #Guan Xin #Gao Ji Cai #Akezhuli Zhuguli #Gao Kai #Dailiha Nayiman #Shi Wei #Fang Han Bing