#silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

Xue Yang and Hunger/Food

For a character with so comparatively little screentime, Xue Yang probably spends as much of it interacting with food as he does committing acts of violence and still I haven't seen a lot of meta about it! So - tough job, someone's gotta do it, etc. Buckle up!

We know that Xue Yang grew up ”without parents or money” and that he could only watch others eat sweets ”with envy”. And that he made himself a vow that ”once I became successful, I would always carry candy with me so I'd never be without again.”

A hungry street kid, much like Wei Wuxian (who could be argued to harbour that same trauma-instilled hunger, and whose obsession with alcohol fills a similar niche.)

Both the novel and The Untamed spend a lot of time describing Xue Yang eating, yearning for or otherwise interacting with food. Starting with The Untamed - have a compilation of all the times Xue Yang handles food, eats or has things put in his mouth by others (innuendo absolutely intended)

Xiao Xingchen saving his life and giving him a healing elixir while he's still unconscious.

Eating candy while sharing some with a-Qing.

Food is very serious business, and heaven have mercy upon the merchant trying to fleece Xue Yang - and his new little family - out of proper dinners! He will stab a potato.

No food depicted, but this is a crucial scene in the novel, that the tv-series cut out for inexplicable reasons, with them telling stories around the fire. Xue Yang tells the story of ”a child” that is very clearly himself.

He was promised a plate of pastries if he ran an errand for a stranger, and since he – a penniless orphan – never usually had the chance to eat such things, he delightedly accepted. The errand (sending a ”fuck you” note to some big angry dude the original man had beef with) ended with him beaten, dragged through town by his hair, beaten some more, whipped to the ground, and finally having his hand crushed by the wheels of the cart of the man who sent him on the errand in the first place - Chang Cian. At age seven.

Needless to say, ”the child” never got his sweets. (It's after hearing this story, minus the mangled hand part, that Xiao Xingchen starts leaving candy on his pillow.)

One of the things that really gets to me in this scene is how careful Xue Yang is with his little basket of groceries. Here's disaster scenario number one playing out, facing a super-powerful enemy with the skills to kill him or at the very least tear his current happy life apart – but he damn well takes the time to gently put down the food before fighting. Food is serious business. You don't toss it around or risk losing it!

In the novel, a-Qing pretends that the reason she's so red-eyed and twitchy when she comes home after seeing Xue Yang fighting and orchestrating the death of Song Lan, is because she has been bullied - and Xue Yang attempts to cheer her up by giving her apple slices cut to look like little bunnies. Food as a love language!

More grocery shopping, and again, even despite the absolutely dire circumstances, it's rather carefully dropped even as he's literally stabbed. In the novel, this scene has an added apple that he's in the middle of eating as Xiao Xingchen attacks him.

This breaks me a little bit. Food as a love language. Not only is Xue Yang absolutely certain Xiao Xingchen will come back to life any moment, but he makes sure to prepare a romantic candle lit dinner for two to celebrate apologize. He even pours him a drink!

Back to being fed things, in this case with the pros of it being by the hands of his necromancy idol - and the cons of it being absolutely awful food. Never meet your heroes. :C

He made the antidote taste sweet. He literally made candy flavoured antidote to his own poison. Nerd.

Everything is pain here. Holding on to that last piece of candy for over seven years. The one sweet thing our resident sugar-addict couldn’t bring himself to eat, because then the last thing Xiao Xingchen gave him would be gone...

”Once upon a time there was a child who loved sweets very much, but because he had no parents or money, he could never have such things. So he'd been dreaming – if only someone could give him a candy every day... How nice that would be!”

Food... as a love language... 😭

In the novel there's also a fun extra chapter, called Villainous Friends, that follows Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao hanging out for one day, in the earlier days of their acquaintanceship.

During that one chapter, Xue Yang is constantly stuffing his mouth – the very first opening lines describes him eating dumplings in sweet rice wine, and then knocking over the vendor's stall as a helpful bit of critique that he ought to make his food sweeter.

”The dumplings were nice. Add more sugar next time.”

Then, the moment he meets up with Jin Guangyao (who is complaining about having to reimburse the vendor for the wrecked stall, since Xue Yang is a Jin guest disciple at the time) he shoplifts some tanghulu (which his friend also patiently pays for.)

They go to Xue Yang's private playground fierce corpse research center and have tea. (Xue Yang makes tea with cut-out tongues for extra spice. We as a fandom don't talk much about this, which may indeed be the appropriate response.)

”This is tea I prepared with my own hands. Why don't you want to drink it?”

”It's precisely because you prepared it with your own hands that I don't want to drink it.”

They then head off to a brothel to try to pick a very drunk Jin Guangshan up from his daily whoring, and Xue Yang swipes an apple along the way that he happily eats while waiting.

In short, food is a huge theme for Xue Yang.

The hunger instilled in him as a child never quite left, translated into an ever-unsated hunger for everything - strength, knowledge, the freedom and power to do as he pleases, never again having to depend on the cruel whims of strangers.

And he always carries candy with him, so he will never have to be without again.

#the untamed #xue yang #xiao xingchen #a-qing #mdzs #the untamed meta #long post #silvygifstheuntamed #untamed artfulness #I THINK A LOT ABOUT THESE THINGS OKAY

[silvysartfulness]

The pointy-finger way Xue Yang holds any sword he gets his greedy hands on, amirite?

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #baxia #jiangzai #shuanghua #untamed artfulness #it makes kinda sense for jiangzai #that has those little hooked holes #if gracious baxia has an ornament it works for #but shuanghua? #xue yang please #you'll lose more fingers that way #this post brought to you by #silvy over-analyzing details about xue yang again #you're welcome #silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

Give (him) back to me!

Xue Yang losing all but one of the mementos of Xiao Xingchen that he carried with him until the day of his death - Shuanghua, Xiao Xingchen’s shattered soul and the last piece of candy.

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #silvygifstheuntamed #untamed artfulness #apparently i felt like hurting myself like this #they really took everything away before killing him #;_;

[silvysartfulness]

WHY wasn’t this bit in the official Netflix version of the series? WHY?

Look at Xue Yang’s face. That moment of going from ♥‿♥ to “...Oh. Fuck.”

#the untamed #xuexiao #xue yang #xiao xingchen #mdzs #cue ''i won't say i'm in love'' from hercules #untamed artfulness #silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

May I just point out the look on Song Lan’s face when Wei Wuxian irreverently pokes Jiang Cheng in the chest in the middle of a very serious cultivator-to-cultivator discussion?

This is not a man who lacks a sense of humour.

(Quite possibly a man who was used to this level of sibling ridiculousness from Baixue? Why not, have some more heartache!)

#the untamed #song lan #gif #look at that smile #he thinks it's all hilarious #untamed artfulness #silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

What exactly did you say to Song Lan there, Xue Yang?

#the untamed #mdzs #silvygifstheuntamed #xue yang #song lan #untamed artfulness #hi my name is silvy and i notice stupid things in the background #''was it baixue you said?'' #''no no no reason'' #''just checking''

[silvysartfulness]

Please stop spanking Xiao Xingchen’s soul, Wei Wuxian... it’s broken enough as it is.

#the untamed #mdzs #wei wuxian #xue yang #xiao xingchen #ish #in a bag #silvygifstheuntamed #untamed artfulness #i'm so sorry #but this bothers me EVERY TIME

[silvysartfulness]

“Hmm, how to find Xue Yang... Say, mister, have there been any, oh, I don’t know, dismemberments or family massacres around here lately? As a random, non-specific example..?”

#the untamed #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #sleuthing #discreetly #so sneak #they really have xue yang's number #untamed artfulness #silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

Oh man, oh man, what a tragedy, haha Bang, bang, there goes paradise

lyrics from Hurts by Emili Sandé

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #xiao xingchen #xuexiao #untamed artfulness #silvygifstheuntamed #oh look #i finished another one! #and it's still all about the hurts! #yay!

[silvysartfulness]

Not to be That Person, but...

You know what really bothers my very nit-picky, “want to get details right for fanfic”, “where exactly would that scar go”-oriented brain..?

Now you won’t ever be able to unsee it either.

You’re welcome.

#the untamed #mdzs #xiao xingchen #xue yang #yi city #silvygifstheuntamed #untamed artfulness

[silvysartfulness]

Who doesn’t love a good parallel..?

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #the untamed gifs #mdzs gifs #xue yang gifs #untamed artfulness #look i can make proper gif sets now #lets use that new power #for hurt #♥♥♥ #silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

Hi I was leafing thru the novel in the original the other day and noticed a little detail I thought you (as well as some of you mutuals I guess) might find interesting, given your tiger imagery wrt Xue Yang in the Roadtrip — his canine teeth are refered to as 虎牙, which quite literally means "tiger teeth", even though generally it's not the only way to say (afaik the most common wording would be 尖牙 (lit. pointed/sharp teeth) instead of that, but I'm not 100% sure). Anyway it does seem to be a lit​erally choice on mxtx's part, and imo it quite neatly suits your imagery

Tiger teeth! I love it!!

It does fit perfectly - thank you so much for letting me know! ♥♥♥♥

#asksilvy #xue yang #silvygifstheuntamed #Anonymous

[silvysartfulness]

Currently having a bit of feels over “I’ve literally worked for the very highest-ranked people of the two most powerful sects in the world” Xue Yang proudly declaring that his life-long dream was to be able to carry a large supply of candy with him wherever he goes.

That’s it. That’s success. That’s how you know you’ve really made it. You can carry candy with you, so you never have to be without again.

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #untamed artfulness #imagine having so little #taking so little for granted #being worth so little #that the Big Dream #is to be able to afford always having candy with you #and then fucking xiao xingchen #just starts GIVING IT to him #never mind me #i'll just be over here #feelsing #silvygifstheuntamed

[silvysartfulness]

“What kind of personal grudge could make you this malevolent?”

Excuse me while I just watch that brief falter of the smile on loop.

(I wonder if anyone ever asked him before?)

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #xue yang gif #silvygifstheuntamed #untamed artfulness #never mind me #just hyper-analyzing again

[silvysartfulness]

Top 5 xue yang moments

Okay, so, this will be long. I could infodump Xue Yang metas and headcanons for hours. Brace.

1: His expressions in the Unclean Realm from Episode 10.

He looks entirely unafraid being dragged to his death, just shifting seamlessly between bored, amused and unabashedly curious. Most famously outside the gates, but also doing background faces while the others argue inside with Nie Mingjue, and still analyzing and sniggering when the captain derides Meng Yao.

You can just see the wheels turning in his head - ”I can use this”. Which is amusing, considering how earlier in the same episode, Meng Yao gives him that exact same look. ”I can use this.”

The beginning of a beautiful mutual exploitation of each other. They might even call it friendship. ♥

2: The whole scene that night in the Coffin House when he's trying to resurrect Xiao Xingchen. The increasingly wild mood swings from shocked ”this will be fine” denial as he washes the blood from Xiao Xingchen’s fingers to the absolutely sweet and adorable setting of the dinner table (and that Soft Look), the slow realizing something's wrong, the very human shaking the talismans a bit as though that'll actually do something, the leaning over to sniff/feel for breath/kiss and following horrible realization, the terror and grief instantly shifting into fury, then back into grief, then back to anger and negotiation, despair again, and finally deranged hope. That whole scene, fuck, it wrings my heart dry every single time.

3: His actual death scene, kneeling in the dirt, the way he looks at Fuxue when it comes into view, then getting stabbed, not even trying to avoid it, and falling... and then the jerky little movement of his hand to bring the candy into view so he can look at it, remember Xiao Xingchen and ”how nice that would be”, finally dying with a soft smile on his face.

(I have developed a pavlovian response to the background music in this scene. Even where it's used at other places in the series, I get goose bumps and my eyes tear up. And that last camera pan to the black lantern swaying in the wind, all of the funeral decorations of Yi City become a monument to the dealer of death who has died, my heart. If anyone knows a place to find that track, please please let me know. It's not on the OST and I want it.)

4: The scene where Xiao Xingchen confronts him, and he actually bares his heart in a final desperate attempt to actually get Xiao Xingchen to understand him, even as everything is going down in flames. The raw emotions on his face that entire scene, they kill me.

How their whole last confrontation is filmed like a battle – Xiao Xingchen attacking first, stabbing him, then Xue Yang pressing forward with his hand raised to tell his truth, Xiao Xingchen pressing him back again with his merciless accusations, Xue Yang parrying back with horrible revelations that make Xiao Xingchen stagger back, finally driving him all the way back and to his knees, to finally fall. The choreography of that entire conversation is poetry, and it hurts.

5: Xue Yang's interaction with Wei Wuxian in episode 37, once the juniors have been sent out to let the grownups talk.

There are just fractured glimpses of his old self – he's enjoying this! He's enjoying it a lot! Their weird little compliment-insult game! It's fun!

And then peppered through with madness – the glassy, teary-eyed look in his eyes when Wei Wuxian brings up the Chang and Baixue and he laughs and laughs. (this is not a happy laugh.)

Only to be instantly 300% laser-focused the moment the fierce corpses burst through the wall, snatching the soul-pouch back in an instant. Because this may be fun. But it's all still for a purpose.

The sweet smiling nagging could be cute if there wasn't enough desperation beneath that even emotional log-head Wei Wuxian picks up on it enough to throw it back into his face in the confrontation a few eps later ”Why did you beg on your knees for me to bring him back?”

...

It's hard to pick just 5, though!

I love the silly game with Xiao Xingchen, where he blatantly cheats, only to instantly admit to it and going anyway, the way he grabs onto his arm to pull him back (clearly no longer hiding left-hand touches!) in a way that's really too rough but so affectionate at the same time. ♥

I love the shameless flirting with Xiao Xingchen when he whines and begs to be allowed to go with him night-hunting (abandonment issues or just wanting the chance to get Xiao Xingchen to do horrible things? Both?) and the bum-touch when they're climbing onto the roof.

I love how ridiculously helpful he is in Yi City overall – the moment we see him back on his feet, literally, the first thing we see him do when he can walk again, is to come limping back home with firewood. And he doesn't even put that down before picking up the roof material from Xiao Xingchen as well, offering to help fix the roof.

Threateningly stabbing potatoes to get them good food when Xiao Xingchen is shooed away by the produce merchant, volunteering to go grocery shopping two days in a row - even the night hunting, that, yes, I know, was horrible in the beginning what with the whole tricking Xiao Xingchen into killing people bit, but the book very clearly states that that was only in the beginning, how it tapered off into ghosts and monsters as time went by. Which was helpful!

(I may or may not have a future section in Roadtrip discussing Chengmei's helpfulness at one point.)

I think, in the end, what I love about Xue Yang is his character's journey, which is played so beautifully by Wang Haoxuan.

How he starts out a cocky little unrepentant shit, keeps being an even more horrible little unrepentant shit, then Yi City with Xiao Xingchen where he grows into being something comparatively soft and happy, and then the broken, obsessive remains we see at the very end of his life, something worn so thin and fractured, just accepting that blade to the chest in the end, dying with a soft smile, surrendering at last.

Ow.

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #xiao xingchen #xue yang meta #silvygifstheuntamed #long post #untamed artfulness #lepetiterik

[silvysartfulness]

“Have you tried turning it off and back on again..?”

#the untamed #mdzs #xue yang #i got my hands on some gif making software #and now i think i'm hilarious #''this usually works!'' #untamed artfulness #silvygifstheuntamed