#su qingluan

[mtkay13]

Qi Ye ensemble cast poster, second edition

Yet another one of those LOL Qi Ye just has that power over me. You know the drill; more info below!

I'll go straight to the point: my main reason to draw this was because I wanted to draw the most somber, dark-looking Helian Qi possible with some dark cross-hatching effect. And because I don't want to draw a Helian Qi solo image because who the HELL does that, I had to turn it into an ensemble cast thing again. I just REALLY like to do that for Qi Ye, for some reasons!!! For a general note, first: shading was a PAIN but making a nice composition and thinking about how to make a hierarchy that both works in terms of storytelling and visual composition was fun. I also liked finding out the "color scheme" to use and I do like lineart. So, now, little notes about each character, and the obligatory name poster just so I'm sure we all know whom I'm talking about:

Jing Beiyuan: I've mentioned it before but drawing Beiyuan is like. The easiest for me, I think, out of ALL Qi Ye/TYK characters combined. He happens to have my general goto "pretty face" (which conveniently has peach blossom eyes). I'm happy with how he turned out here! And got to put the sable around his neck which makes for a nice additional touch. Helian Yi: He's easy to draw as well and I'm glad with how the guan turned out. He initally looked sideways, but I liked it better having him wistfully stare into the distance. Helian Zhao: has the exact same face as in the other, coloured poster, and that cracks me up bc that wasn't even intentional. Helian Pei: GDI I find him so hilarious. He looks so done and out of it. Shout out to all his bird as well, which, I find, really complete the look. Helian Qi: I can't possibly say that I love him as an antagonist because there's nothing to love about this literal trash, but I'm still grateful that we got some of the most rancid stuff going on in Qi Ye just because of him and I'm always here for that. He deserves the villain visual treatment, at least. He was VERY fun to draw and I tried to push that nasty grin and shading as much as possible. He turned out exactly how I wanted him to! (the shading on his face and the balance of light and shadow was a bit of a challenge, actually)

Wuxi: Again, a rather easy one, always pleasant to draw! I loved working on his hair (but complained a lot while doing so)--which I think turned out nicely. Bai Wuchang: Finally! Finally I draw him!! He had to be there, since he's like. The base of the whole Qi Ye plot. Lining him was....... a pain, but at least it looks nice.

Su Qingluan: nothing much to say--I think it's always important to have her there in Qi Ye stuff, and I put her next to Helian Zhao because of how he tried using her--but it did make me feel bad for her when I realised that. Song Ping'an: The real star of the show, lowkey, but always alert and present. Feng Xiaoshu: FINALLY. PRINCESS JING'AN. I'm sorry I took so long to draw her. I want to work on a proper design, I swear. To make up for having completely forgotten to include her in the other spread. I'm so sorry. I like how her face turned out! Liang Jiuxiao: I never, ever, EVER get enough of drawing him. Have I mentioned how much I like him? How much of a great surprise he was reading Qi Ye? How many times I've wanted to high five because finally someone is as confused as I am? I love drawing this very specific smile on him, SO satisfying. Also Bichen said he was "THE Qi Ye antagonist" and I live for that LOL Zhou Zishu: do I really need to say anything atp Jiang Xue: I'm so sorry I put Xiao Xue next to ZZS. The cruelty. But she came out really cute didn't she T_T Anyway that's it. I'm still obsessed with Qi Ye and given my current (totally secret) retranslation project I'm nowhere near done going crazy about this book.

#qi ye #jing beiyuan #wuxi #bai wuchang #helian yi #helian pei #helian zhao #helian qi #su qingluan #ping'an #princess jing'an #liang jiuxiao #zhou zishu #jiang xue

[yeliuxi]

Thinking about the kept-wife-ness of Su Qingluan, who was only as appealing to Helian Yi as her looks were alike to Jing Beiyuan's, who was trying to be filial to her parents and continuing to assist Daoist Li, the way her parents would have wanted her to.... And how she suffered such a terrible fate for it, getting caught up in palace politics and used as a pawn. To be kept in a private residence at a prince's insistance; not likely to be wed or made a concubine, but forced to stick around and tarnish her reputation. How hated she must be by Helian Yi's wife, the woman with arguably the most power in the palace, the rest of the imperial harem aside

#i bet it was hell. your only chance at survival is to keep appeasing the man who has trapped you #qi ye #su qingluan

[deepestbluesky]

shl/qy women thought of the day: ONCE AGAIN i would like to say how much i think su qingluan should be allowed to join the department of the unfaithful. as a treat.

#let su qingluan do some regular murders rather than political ones!!!! #let her get away from men!!! #also let her not be stuck in a damn house #qi ye #shl #su qingluan

[geneticcatalyst]

as promised, an exploration of my one pet problem in fandom, or: misinterpretation of jby's first death (ft. zzs)

heres the thing. i occasionally see people reference what seems to be a misconception of the (english translation) text in qi ye. both the fact that its a translation and the metaphorical phrasing make it pretty clear to see why they got the wrong idea, but i firmly believe its still the wrong idea. i am by no means calling the people who got this mixed up dumb or bad, i am simply leaning over their shoulders going 'wait no bestie pls read that again pls read that one more time!!' because this is one of my favorite books and this thing is a key piece of one of my favorite things about it.

i said i was gonna pull screenshots for this post but i think it will be a little while before i get to another reread and i can't ctrl+f the google doc so im just gonna whip this out from memory. if anyone does have this particular passage on hand feel free to pop it in here. the rest of the context/explanations are just from my cursory research, im not chinese or a historian.

cards on the table. the only thing i love more than unhinged gay romances is unhinged platonic soul mates. its catnip to me. i go feral every goddamn time. and i havent stopped losing my mind about zhou zishu and jing beiyuan since that first qi ye scene. what do those guys have going on? not even sure they know but it's A Lot. ive got like 18 other unpublished drafts trying to work that out slash losing my fucking mind at the lengths they go to about each other. that relationship is at the center of both novels even if the spotlight isnt on it. so I admit that my readings are colored a bit by how much i like that they like each other!

which is why im shocked baffled and, ok, lightly salted, to see a few people make the claim that zishu (personally) tortured/killed beiyuan in his first life.

so what the text says is that after helian yi stopped trusting beiyuan (after su qingluan's accidental death), he was basically put to death. but even the emperor has to have a half decent reason to execute someone. the text describes these reasons- ten of them- as zhou zishu's masterpieces. it also refers to them as great shames to beiyuan's standing. what's happening is that helian yi has zishu frame beiyuan for treason or other betrayals against the emperor/the country. it isn't specific as to what, but it doesn't really matter, because its all fake and zishu is really good at his job. so yes, it is fair to say that zishu is the INSTRUMENT of beiyuan's death, but he didn't kill him, he just laid the groundwork.

the text goes on to another slightly confusing line where it says something to the effect of that when each of these accusations were read out in court, each line drew blood from jing beiyuan. that's a metaphor! it's just saying that his reputation was torn apart and ultimately his fate is sealed, despite the phrasing there are no literal injuries happening.

also, i may not have the timeline perfect on this part, but in zishu's introduction in the beginning of the novel, the narration tells us outright that while zishu is partially responsible for beiyuan's death, he was like. cool about it. in what seems to be the first and only time he ever steps out of line or goes against helian yi's command (!), after setting all this up but- if im remembering right- before the news actually breaks in court the next day, zishu warns beiyuan. now this admittedly doesnt do a whole lot because the only other possible option (cut and run) isn't a very good one, but it's the only thing zishu can do. he doesnt have to, but he does it anyway (!). of course beiyuan doesnt even consider doing this, he's stubborn and heartbroken, but he really seems to 1. appreciate the risk zishu took here to try to give him a chance and 2. not hold the whole set up against zishu or take that bit personally.

so what actually happened at the end of beiyuan's first life? he was sent the 3 zhang of white silk. the text does explicitly say this once, but if you're not familiar with the practice it may not click. receiving the white silk from the emperor is what happens when you're too high ranking to execute like a commoner but you've fallen from grace and are being politely asked to hang yourself in order to clear your name. and of course beiyuan, stubborn and heartbroken, does. yes, it's a forced suicide, but it isn't a murder.

anyway, its in that secret conversation, where zishu secretly meets with beiyuan seemingly to try to convince him to save himself and beiyuan outright refuses, that beiyuan promises that if theres a next life (ha), they'll get drunk together. and of course against all odds, there is and they do.

the thing about the idea that some people might think that zishu killed beiyuan is that after that nothing between them makes sense. even if it was at helian yi's request, i just cant see that not permanently damaging the friendship, i don't think beiyuan could immediately pick back up being best friends in the seventh life with that memory in the way. why would zishu go out of his way to warn beiyuan one day if he was perfectly capable and fine with killing him the next? why would beiyuan not only be happy to meet zishu again in the seventh life but also go out of his way trying to save zishu's? none of their other interactions really make sense if you believe there was a murder done there. idk. it clouds the whole throughline of the story which is that they have a bond!

i think maybe people think it is in character due to the other ruthless murders, and they're not wholly wrong, but that's the kicker for me. zishu will murder all kinds of innocents no questions asked, but he's suddenly trying to give an out to his coworker and drinking buddy? hello? thats insane, and that's the point.

furthermore, if you think maybe it would make sense for helian yi to have beiyuan violently killed (since it keeps fucking happening later), i actually have to become helian yi's lawyer for a moment here and say that that doesnt make sense either. helian yi is sitting on a throne gained by shadowy means but he's the Good Guy Ruler and that reputation is important. hes not a cruel person and he may have become paranoid but he still has a shared history with beiyuan. plus, even the emperor has to abide by a certain amount of decorum when he wants to have people killed, especially when that person is also a high ranking member of court. beiyuan's status is basically second only to the royal bloodline, he's essentially the prev emperor's godson, as well as a previously close confidante of helian yi himself. the white silk was regarded as a privileged, dignified means of offing someone. helian yi is perfectly within social acceptability to do this to beiyuan with the pretext of beiyuan's disgrace. but it would be pushing the boundaries for the good and just emperor to suddenly have one of his top advisors and members of high nobility brutally killed like a common criminal. he could probably do it, but it would reflect on him and his reputation too. he could do it in secret, but would have to cover up the disappearance of a prominent court figure. it just makes sense to use the white silk as the neatest, most acceptable legal justice channel here. maintain emotional detachment, be polite, everybody's honor gets honored and such.

so that's the ted talk. theres even some beautiful fanart on here of white-haired first life beiyuan holding the white silk! he wasn't tortured or outright executed, and he chose to obey rather than escape or fight the false claims of treason even though his friend tried to give him the only out he could manage. to interpret things differently really skews the character motivations and plot for everyone- beiyuan, zishu, helian yi- in a way that warps the story out of believability, imho.

#gently and lovingly nailing my opinions to the fandom's front door <3 #minor qi ye spoilers obv #i think i spent upwards of 3 hours on this draft so believe me this is 10 percent salt and 90 percent love #i wouldnt call this a common misconception either but every time i do see it i have to go walk around the room #i love to think about first life and i love to think about murderbros so. inbox open #qi ye #and thank u to my enablers u know who you are!! #qy meta

[dreamingsushi]

The Longest Promise - Episode 11

Well hello and welcome back to this drama. We have already been through a quarter of all of this story, so I guess it's about time things start moving right? Hopefully, it won't go too bad from now on, but I expect still a lot of drama. After all, this is a Chinese one, it's bound to happen sometime.

Zhu Yan uses her wish to brush Shi Ying's hair. While doing so, she plucks a strand of his, to fulfill her promise to Qing Gang. Obviously, Shi Ying noticed and tells her to hand back the hair. However, for once, she's rather smart and tricks him into giving back a different comb than the one she used to brush his hair, so it's probably a strand of hers. Then Qing Gang comes to ask for the hair and she gives it to him. And THEN she realizes that a dude unfamiliar with poison, asking for a strand of hair to increase his power is definitely sus. Was kind of about time you doubted him. She sneaks upon him and notices that he's comparing the hair with a paint brush, meant for calligraphy. She confronts him for using her and takes the brush away to tell Shi Ying. Upon learning that she was acting like this only to get his hair for Qing Gang, Shi Ying gets mad. He almost slips and let her know that he cares for her, but smoothly passes it as since it's his first becoming a master, he wants to do well and cares for all of his disciples. He reassures her that this won't harm him. Yeah no. It's too late. The Qing will know he's still alive.

Shi Ying confronts Qing Gang and they fight. He's definitely not a match for him though and is defeated. Then we learn that he bears the bad poison from the Qing clan and if he doesn't fulfill his mission to transfer it to Shi Ying, he'll die. Shi Ying takes it on himself willfully. He pretends that he's fine and can suppress the poison with his cultivation. Qing Gang thanks him for his mercy and promise not to leak away his real identity.

However, Shi Ying isn't faring well. Zhu Yan comes back and sees how bad of a state he's in. Shi Ying lies that Qing Gang didn't have any ill intentions and that he took the poison from him, but he's not aware that he's not doing well. Zhu Yan has an idea to suppress the poison and save Shi Ying. She has him grab onto the lamp like she did a while ago and the butterflies attacking solve the problem. And I see you, Xuelu, lurking around. This is going to be again the tragic story of a too ambitious lady. She reminds me of Zuo Qingluan in Dance of the Phoenix.

Xuelu manages to figure out Shi Ying's real identity and she reports to Da Siming that everything's alright with Qing Gang now and that Shi Ying vanquished the poison. She doesn't mention that Zhu Yan was there to help. I don't know if she wants to help her or not... I don't think she's evil, it's more that she's not the official daughter so she might have had a lot of resentment.

In class, they have to make bracelets with some spiritual flowers. The next day, Shi Ying will elect which one's the best, to give them a reward. He decides to go along with Zhu Yan's one, because even though he was so cold and mean towards her, she still kept believing in him. Chongming fears she has too much power over him, even though he says he won't keep her in Jiuyi mountain once the month is over. So he feeds him a fruit that is supposed to prevent him to be attracted to women. There was a warning on the spell, but I couldn't completely read it, it went too fast. I guess we'll know soon enough. The next morning, everybody is extremely shocked to see that Shi Ying's wearing Zhu Yan's bracelet.

And that completes this episode. I guess the main lead is slowly getting a little smarter. She's still dumb, but it's better. I can't believe how naive she is though. Hopefully the trope of the naive female lead is going to die someday soon.

#the longest promise #ren min #xiao zhan #wuxia #wuxia drama #costume drama #cdrama #c-drama #chinese drama #drama review #drama recap #drama reaction

[minnarr]

wip ask game! su qingluan in shl-verse becoming a ghost?

ha, you got to this before i remembered to edit in file names so for others this is "qingluan and lfm thing"

in the eps where zzs is captured in jinzhou, jinwang brings up a few qy characters as former friends/accomplices in some kind of courtyard oath and qingluan was one of those. i got to thinking about what i find fascinating about her, and what i find fascinating about the dept of the unfaithful, and then i got to thinking about how you could adapt qingluan and also have her death be also fake. so far I've mostly written the jinzhou backstory and how she physically got in to tell it to lfm, i just need to work out Everything Else

#minnafics

[smiling-shoe]

Helian Yi, drunk: Beiyuan is so hot...

His servant, exhausted:

Helian Yi: Su Qingluan is so hot too... Why everyone is so hot??

Servant: Must be global warming. Oh wait, we're in Ancient China. Than it's because you're chaotic bi, Your Highness, please, stop drinking and go to bed already.

#qi ye #lord seventh #helian yi #my poor boy just wants love and trust

[fanghuas]

My turn! Jiuxiao or Wen Kexing!

yeah, like you don't know I'm gonna do both

stealing your color coding bc it's cool, we'll use this for wkx and this for jiuxiao

a song that reminds me of them

When You Break by Bear's Den

none pls suggest me jiuxiao songs

what they smell like

expensive perfume and saltwater

plum flowers, obviously

an otp

wenzhou, hanwenzhou

jiuxiao × jing'an, I guess? also my jiuxiao × jing'an x su qingluan crackship bc its funny and this himbo deserves two bad bitches

a notp

wkx x zj? I don't know if anyone ships that, but I would hate it for sure

yunxu is either a notp or a sure-tp depending on the vibes, I've not seen jiuxiao shipped with many other ppl

favorite platonic/familial relationships

WKX AND GX THEY ARE SIBLINGS SHE'S HIS DAUGHTER THEY ARE EVERYTHING

I'm a sucker for jixuao and hy friendship, as you know, but I'd also love to see him be a gege to gx and cl

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with

I tend to take most hcs about wkx's upbringing in the gv with a dose of skepticism, like sure, maybe, but what does that mean and how would it actually impact his character? but that's not focused on any particular hc

ig I hate the interpretation that his attraction to zzs was insta-love, like no he thought that guy was sus and got attached to him along the way

that he's completely stupid and unaware of what's happening around him? I like my jiuxiao fairly sweet and kind and somewhat oblivious to the darker sides of life, but still with a lot of emotional intelligence and awareness of the shit that's going on that he actively has to supress

the position they sleep in

curled in on his side, facing the wall

sprawled out like a starfish, snores lightly

a crossover au i’d love to see them in

cql bc give me wkx with the other wens

...I can't think of any, actually

(edit: actually he'd be super funny to throw into blood of youth, I feel like, although I've only seen like three episodes. I feel like he would delight in that genre)

my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn

ep 31 gvm wkx is where it's at

how many outfits does he have? the one in the sad jiangs flashback scene

#asks #antique-forvalaka #structured thought? I dont possess it. anyway enjoy

[worldsendgirlfriend]

amassed enough for yet anotha one

more assorted qi ye funyposts

#qi ye #lord seventh #jing beiyuan #wu xi #helian yi #su qingluan #qyposts

[fatalism-and-villainy]

Nobody asked for a Qi Ye reaction post but here one is nonetheless (at almost 1500 words.... hello.)

[~spoilers~]

One of the first things I can say is that I love love LOVE Priest’s writing style. It’s hard to say how much of this is a translation thing, because I did get the vibe that this translation was a lot smoother and better than the other cnovel translations I happen to have read. But god!! Her style is very densely allusive, and a challenge to follow at times, but so so beautiful. The story’s narration also shifts perspective a lot in the middle of chapters, which gives it this almost cinematic bird’s eye effect for me (except with internal-emotional states more than visuals). I can see it being the kind of thing that might bother people, but I love it – and I think that it ties in with the themes about the ephemerality and impermanence of life, and the way these little moments are all part of a much bigger sphere of existence.

I also like the way she does humour more than MXTX, honestly? I find the slapstick humour in MXTX’s works to be overdone and distracting from the other story and characterization work going on in her works. Whereas here, the humour landed more and also felt like it tied in more with the actual development of character and themes. Like, for instance, Liang Jiuxiao’s battle with the sable wherein he gets scratched every time and exhausts Beiyuan’s entire supply of antidote – it’s over the top, but also genuinely funny to me, AND I feel the comedic setup of Liang Jiuxiao constantly being an unwanted visitor contrasts very well with the entire heartbreaking scenario involving Beiyuan drugging him for Zhou Zishu, as well as his general progression from a Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass archetype to being completely shattered by the evil and corruption in the world.

(The Sex and Kissing stuff is also, imo, more sensual and generally hotter to me than MXTX’s stuff – not trying to pick on her specifically, she’s just my only point of comparison for these novels.)

The main romance is ehhh… Mixed Feelings? I loved Wu Xi in all the parts he wasn’t playing the role of “love interest who expresses their love via violent jealousy”, but the parts where he WAS…. woof. Like, I don’t necessarily mind jealousy when it’s internal sensations, or when it’s a very intentionally fucked up dynamic, but I like it less so when it’s couple who’s riding off into the sunset and are the only foil to the general aura of melancholy and sadness in a story? Really hope that’s a one-off specific piece of characterization and not a general Thing for Priest…

I did actually like the gradual development of Beiyuan’s feelings, and the way there’s no Big Moment of Realization – or rather, there is a moment of realization, but it’s not super dramatic, it’s just sort of settling into something that’s been there awhile.

Another problem with their relationship for me though, I think, is how rushed the denouement of the book is, and how many important things are glossed over. Like, okay, they’re riding off into the sunset, but are they actually going to talk about the fact that Beiyuan seduced Wu Xi for Deception Purposes and then drugged him…? Taking advantage of Wu Xi’s very earnest and intense feelings in the process? Like, they stay in the capital for three months of negotiations before they leave, all while Wu Xi hides Beiyuan in his house – there must have been conversations and Relationship Negotiations? And yet we don’t See any of that, we’re just treated to them riding off in a carriage with some cheeky little line about how Beiyuan has the rest of his life to make things up to Wu Xi (presumably by having rough sex)… like ok.

The racism… there was a lot of it in the presentation of Nanjiang! I think the thing that stood out to me though was the line about Wu Xi’s having a kind of intuitive understanding of how people are (an intuition attributed to children, even!) despite not being cultured – it slots so perfectly into the kind of colonial propaganda that posits colonized people as having this innate, intuitive understanding of the world or connection with nature or what have you – but of course they’re not mature, they’re not cultured, they don’t have the capacity for rationality, that we do. To be fair, the line I’m thinking of is also applied to Liang Jiuxiao, but it is of a piece with how Nanjiang is characterized throughout the novel – like, oh, they’re so simple! When they like someone they just get married! It’s presented as a romantic ideal, but in a way that portrays Nanjiang as being Simple and Rustic and lacking the cultural complexity of the Great Qing. (Especially since we b a r e l y see the country or its people on the page.)

(Not to mention the way Wu Xi’s bodyguards from Nanjiang are portrayed as being confused and grossed out by him being in love with a man – contrasted with the commentary about how commonplace sex between men is in the Great Qing. Feels very like Nanjiang gets cast as less “enlightened”?)

I think those elements are also part of why the romance doesn’t fully stick its landing for me – because Wu Xi does take in and consider Great Qing cultural stuff, and incorporate it into his worldview alongside the influence of his home culture – and we don’t see Beiyuan doing something similar in return. He wants to leave for Nanjiang in part because he’s exhausted with capital politics and wants freedom, but why Nanjiang specifically? What does the country mean to him? How’s he actually going to fit in there? (This is another thing that also could have been filled in more with more actual writing about what goes down after that final battle.)

I honestly was deeply moved by Helian Yi. I shed literal tears for that man on multiple occasions. I do feel like I would have benefitted from more actual exploration of his past life-relationship with Beiyuan? Because as it was, I felt like that aspect of Beiyuan’s characterization was kind of informed rather than fleshed out – what did he see in Helian Yi in the first place? And I think the unrequited love would have been more poignant if we’d had more flashbacks to when it was requited.

Also, the possible-incest reveal?? What even was the point of that…? (I know people have posited that that’s why Helian Yi originally had Beiyuan killed, but with that final deleted-on-JJWXC extra I feel like it’s meant to be that he thought Beiyuan was responsible for Su Qingluan’s death. Another thing that should have been elaborated on, plot-wise…)

In general, the ending was very rushed. It gave me distinct “project due the next day” vibes.

ZHOU ZISHU!!!! – my main emotional engagement with this, tbh. I loved what was done with him, loved getting to see more of the atrocities he was behind (haha), loved the chilling “ends justify the means” ideological track he was on, loved how enmeshed he was in Hierarchy and political intrigue and how Carefully he handled himself around his social superiors… yeah.  

I am also…. Also losing my mind over the entire Vibe between Zhou Zishu and Liang Jiuxiao. Misplaced devotion… broken pedestals… weird subtextual hard-to-define Feelings... selfishly wanting to hide the worst parts of yourself from someone…. Ahhhhh it’s good. Love those intricate complex homoerotic friendships. If there Exists any fic (whether platonic or less so) that anyone wants to rec… pls do 👀

I have to say, another problem I had with the ending was that I don’t think the tonal dissonance was well-balanced. Like, there’s a very melancholy atmosphere for pretty much everyone except the main couple, and I do understand that their getting away from the capital is the only thing that engenders that happiness (as a big theme of the book is that the politicking in the capital is exhausting and demoralizing – and to my understanding that is similar to the themes at work in Faraway Wanderers.) But I don’t feel as though those two streams were working in communication with each other in the final chapters – I would say that the cutesy scenes with the main couple just felt jarring in contrast to the sadness and regret that permeated the rest of the narrative. I think perhaps they were too saccharine, rather than emphasizing escape and looking forward to different possibilities? I’m not sure. (It also seems questionable to present Nanjiang as an Escape, given that Wu Xi is in charge now?? They’re still right in the thick of politics?) Anyway, this all is why I like the placement of that final extra at the end of the narrative, because it Is a turning back to melancholia that I like to see during nominal happy endings.

#qi ye talk #fandom natterings #book blogging

[claro-deluna]

Qi Ye spoilers ahead

Finished the novel like two weeks ago, since then i have a few questions regarding some matters about it and i don't know if the aswers were there but i'm just too dumb to undertand or if really my doubts are legitimate. So, here we go:

First thing, Bai Wuchang, the white impemanence. It's said that is very old, more than ten thousand years ("some-odd tens of thousands of years" according the translation i read), my questions about are:

What is exactly? A spirit? An energy with a body? WHAT?!

Was human before becoming the white impermanence?

Why is the body made of papier-mâché?

The Netherworld Judge says Bai Wuchang doesn't belong there, just was in the Netherworld while wainting for a "destined person" (Jing Beiyuan) but... how did this Bai Wuchang get in there? Who allowed this Bai Wuchang to do that and how?

Taking Su Qingluan life was really a mistake or was part of a plan desingned by some upper force from the beggining to tie Bai Wuchang with Jing Beiyuan?

Second thing, his "destined" relationship with Jing Beiyuan. I don't get all of this "seven lifes" subject but, from what i remember, people have those exact lifetimes to meet with their destined people... maybe i'm wrong, so:

We know Jing Beiyuan is in his seventh life when he meet Wu Xi and end up together but what will happen when this life finish?

He will wait in the Three-lifes rock again?

And, thinking in this life as Wu Xi's first one, what if he dies before Jing Beiyuan?

They'll meet in other six future lifes?

Third thing, as the Shamanet, Wu Xi started following The Great Sorcerer/Shaman path since a very young age:

What happened with his family?

Once he was separated, he could never contact them again if he wanted to? (At the first moment, i thought is was for some reason like the Great Sorcerer/Shaman's position requires to not establish deep bonds with other human beings but I discarted it because, as we know, he ended up married with Jing Beiyuan and formed his own family)

Probably i have more queries of this novel but i've forgotten

#qi ye spoilers #qi ye #lord seventh #jing beiyuan #wu xi #七爷 #xiyuan #priest give me aswers

[mtkay13]

Qi Ye cast poster!!

This had started as a sketch, waaay back as I was still reading Qi Ye. The original is pretty different from this (I considered adding it in the post but I actually don't like it anymore haha), but the plan was already to make this big spread with most of the -more or less- important cast.

I will add here some thoughts about the whole piece, and I guess, Qi Ye itself. My main goal was probably to express my deep and intense feelings for Qi Ye, its grandness, and its awesome cast-- and along with that, flesh out my mental image of each of them, their personality, their style. Here is a table with the names, so we know who is whom, and so I can add some details about my perspective on them and their design.

Jing Beiyuan has always come quite naturally. I just go for the "prettiest face" I ever came with in terms of : my own taste, and the features I find the most delicate. I'd argue he's the easiest character to draw for me across both QY and TYK. On this image, he's probably around 16 or 17. I find his expressions to be very fun to work on in general.

Ping An is also quite an easy character to draw, just for how specific Priest is when describing him.

Wu Xi's design is mainly inspired by a discussion with my friend Hanya, who talked about how, in SHL, Wu Xi more resembled a northern shaman than a southern shaman. It made me want to explore the designs and characteristics a bit more, and come up with more colourful fabrics, patterns, and darker skin color. Same goes for Ashinlae and Nuahar, to have them matching Wu Xi's aesthetic.

Ming Hua was included in this just because of the mess the mention of his name caused in the story. The two jealousy tantrums are just so delightful!!

Su Qingluan was made to resemble Jing Beiyuan, of course. What I wanted to reflect in her face was her frustration, mainly.

Ji Xiang and Hua Yue... Well. Nothing particular about their design either, but they had to be there. Of course, of course they had to be there.

Finally, an opportunity to draw Zishu with his fan and henchmen! Not mad that he kinda looks like a villain, here.

Lu Yu!! I drew him with an Ashinlae mask, since he disguises himself as Ashinlae. I included him because he matters a lot in my headcanons about Siji Manor. (it isn't specified, in Qi Ye, whether or not he's actually part of the manor, but I like to consider that he is for various reason that I may detail if I ever make a Siji Manor post)

I'll skip Jiang Xue and Liang Jiuxiao because their designs are steady for me, now.

I hesitated a lot for Helian Pei's pose, but ended up going for this one (looking bored, out of his depth, lost in the distance with his birds around him). I considered showing him with a bird in his hands, but I guess that's not the main vibe I get from him. And then, well, golden, flashy clothing, suited for an emperor.

Helian Zhao had to be in a showy armor, and I hated making it because it's so much work, haha. I took inspiration from an armor in NiF. I'm quite happy with how he came out in terms of both vibe and showiness.

I tried going full out on Helian Qi. Making him the villain that Qi Ye deserved. Dark, showy, elegant and horrible.

Helian Yi is also pretty solid for me, by now.

About the illustration itself, the main challenge was definitely to make a nice colour palette while still differenciating all the characters. I wanted to go with something intense, eerie, that could also complement the main tones I would go for (= red, purple, blue and green). I'm quite happy with how the golden tones, along with the green and reddish lights, make the whole thing come together. I struggled a little bit with the composition at first, but once I got the flow and the main figures down, it just happened quite easily. Anyway, I'm quite proud of this, and hope it conveys the love and admiration I have for Qi Ye well.

#qi ye #lord seventh #cast #meta #talk about art #七爷

[bookishnerdlove]

LHBSP Capítulo 1: Noche de Renacimiento

Poco a poco, Xie Qingluan recuperó sus sensaciones que se dispersaban gradualmente. ¿Por qué estaba envuelta en una niebla creciente de aire caliente? ¿No había muerto ya en el frío glacial, en su camino al exilio cargado de nieve? ¿Podría ser este el calor húmedo del lago Oblivion? ¿Y las manos errantes sobre su cuerpo podrían ser el toque de los Guardias del Inframundo? Luchó por abrir los…

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#China antigua #El otro se enamora primero #Guardespaldas #Múltiples personalidades #nobles #Política #posesivo #protagonista femenina #reencarnación #Reverse Harem #Yandere

[deepestbluesky]

hanwenzhou thought of the day: ice dancing au [chinhands emoji]. (i was inspired by these videos)

han ying and zhou zishu who always trained together because they’ve worked with the same coach before even tho they compete for different countries internationally (and zzs has always helped hy as hy has come into his own as a skater). zzs has retired officially and dramatically whereas hy is publicly still competing but privately considering retiring because what’s the point if zzs isn’t there too (zzs doesn’t love this, he thinks hy is ruining his career over him) but currently hy has the time to think about this bc he’s rehabbing an injury this season.

anyway they start skating together rather than with their usual/former partners (im gonna say su qingluan with zzs and liu qianqiao with hy bc i can) while they’re both trying to decide what to do with their lives, and they start hearing some of this buzz about same gender pairs being officially allowed to compete, and they start Thinking. posting routines to social media. making noise in the media. neither of them really think they’re up for competing together or possibly competing at all, but the more they talk about it, the more they’re into it. zzs genuinely doesn’t want to and maybe can’t compete anymore, but he doesn’t want to hold hy back. so finally he presents hy with the idea of ‘what if you did some of this more seriously as a campaign to make international skating take this seriously’ and hy is like ‘🥺 but i‘d need a partner’ and zzs is like ‘sigh yeah i have an idea.’ and that’s how wkx gets brought into all this

wkx has always been a singles skater but zzs knows him (read: has hooked up with him at multiple competitions) and knows he would be up for this. wkx hasn’t really been enjoying skating for the last couple years and he is aggressively gay, and zzs thinks this might work to make him have fun again (not that he CARES of course....) and also wkx would be the perfect complement for hy if they;re really gonna make this a Campaign

#idk where it goes after that #i don't love making fictional characters break real life barriers but. #obs they all get together and do so many beautiful or sexy or silly skating videos they post online #hwz thought of the day #hanwenzhou

[geneticcatalyst]

okay. just trolley problem things:

at this point in the novel the tension and the emotional weight is wound up really high and things are really just primed for the impending mess to say important things about the characters in new and interesting ways. i think the main piece is the contrast between zzs' careless attitude in the carriage post Jiang assassination sort of smugly dismissing jby's veiled reservations and the version of him in jby's courtyard in the middle of the night, disheveled and shell shocked because he really hadnt thought this would happen. he was fully confident he could keep ljx in the dark forever, and even then maybe didn't expect ljx to condemn him so thoroughly.

i try really hard when considering jby and zzs to not extrapolate too far beyond the bounds of the characters as presented in the (somewhat notoriously biased) narration. both are presented as and also shown at times to be cold, ruthless, unfeeling etc. that's a starting point. i do think we can look at the whole picture and see the other more human aspects of these characters too, both explicitly stated and not, but if you rush into those hidden emotional depths and forget the rest you get word of honor really woobie really fast and that's SUCH A SHAME to lose sight of these characters who are so fascinating BECAUSE of their worst traits and actions. so I always try to start by explaining their behavior the way they would explain it- in terms of political gain, calculation, masks, power.

the really fun part comes when none of those things are enough to explain anymore, at least not in entirety, and you get to peek at the really raw soft inner shells of the remorseless war criminals <3 i'm getting into the weeds here let's go back to the courtyard.

zzs is in jby's courtyard in the middle of the night and he's visibly a wreck. this is wild because up until this point zzs is rarely visibly Anything. he's in the background, he's going unnoticed, he's this perfectly cool and collected tool of the empire.

but something unthinkable just happened, which was a risk that he was taking blew up in his face. and the first thing he does, maybe the only thing he can do, after trying to contain the problem (ljx), is go to jby.

so, the narrative explanation. jby is an ally but he's also very smart and seemingly good at dealing with people, very politically savvy. zzs has a potential threat to their shared mission which is hly's ascension, if ljx tells everyone how much blood is on the party's hands that's not going to happen. so logically zzs specifically needs his partner in crimes' help to mitigate that threat to their goal. additionally jby knows the situation, he knows ljx well and he also understands the relationship between zzs and ljx. all logical and true and as such it only makes sense that the first thing jby does is say okay hold on let me handle this.

aaa. okay. yeah no despite the fact that it's the middle of the night and theoretically ljx is imprisoned and could probably be kept at least until the morning. he just tells zzs to bring him to ljx. yes this is like mission critical politics, for sure, but i think also he's very driven to resolve things as soon as possible for emotional reasons.

what emotional reasons? well. there's the vividly fresh parallel to ji xiang, whose recent corpse is also in the courtyard. just for extra devastation zzs pulls back the sheet and says "you brought him along to go to the guangs, and you didn't keep him?" and jby says. "i wanted to keep him. but i couldn't." ji xiang was a good servant to jby for a decade, but when he tried to betray jby (and zzs) to su qingluan to save his girlfriend, he got himself killed. ji xiang is nowhere on the level of ljx who is both shidi and the only scrap of normalcy/link to zzs's past, but they're both young innocents who are pulled into the deadly political morass that jby and zzs are wading in by proximity (and crucially by exposing its corruption). jby is privately pretty depressed about the incident and explicitly states to wu xi (as explicit as he gets, anyway) that he hates seeing this happen, but can't do anything to stop it. i think, even so, he wants to do everything possible to try to keep ljx from the same fate.

there's also the question of favors and debts. after all this is over, zzs offers to take jby for a drink in exchange (understatement). jby replies that he owed zzs. now in the current timeline zzs has uncovered jby's estate purchasing property outside the capitol and it's not quite clear but i think zzs correctly surmises that this is some sort of backup plan or escape framework. in another scene that makes me !?!?!!? about them zzs confronts jby about this and jby can do nothing but ask zzs to cut him some slack. and. zzs. does. just shrugs and torches the evidence right there in the candle flame. jby certainly owes him for that. i think that's something of a smaller parallel to first life zzs warning jby about the plot against him. again, scene isn't perfectly clear, but i think zzs meant that conversation as a warning- cover your tracks better, people are watching. that's why he so easily acquiesces to letting jby off the hook. point made, he destroys the evidence to protect his friend, or even to gain a favor in the future. what im saying is that zzs has had jby's back before, in multiple lives, and jby doesn't take that lightly.

(on reread it's also pretty clear also that jby thinks the incident is his fault, having kept ljx at his estate overnight but no later- ljx still managed to slip out early enough to discover the bodies. so jby definitely views this as trying to fix his own mistake here, although zzs never seems to hold it against him. possibly this is what he means when he says he owed zzs, but i think there's a lot more there as well.)

and finally i have to get into a little more esoteric take but it's actually the way the scene really hit me the first time i read it. what came across from the way jby handles the situation was defensiveness. he correctly reads the situation as a threat and he storms into ljx's holding room and scolds him (violently! no relying on charm here) for his childish ideas of righteousness. ljx said that zzs should pay with his life for his crimes and jby says no, you don't understand the context. jby is defending zzs's actions to ljx and trying to get ljx to see zzs in a more understanding if not forgiving light. jby is doing this because 1. it's key to keeping ljx from exposing them and destabilizing the precarious political situation 2. zzs is his friend and he doesn't want to see him harmed 3. zzs and jby are the same. they are wrapped up together in this. they are in this so much deeper than anyone else and are bound together by it. when ji xiang spoke up to reveal their plot to su qingluan, which ljx overheard, he mentions them both in the same breath. jby defending why zzs has done the things he's done is jby defending his own actions. it's personal. he's defensive of zzs but he's really defending the both of them. because they are the same.

#my typical focus on murderbros here but also the ji xiang angle which kills me deader every time i reread it #priest was a master for that #its a bit lost in the rest of it here but the emotional read on this that i try to avoid leaning too far into is that we have never seen zz #this emotionally distraught and neither has jby and he responds by lashing out at ljx. #idk i just feel some type of way about that even with all the more rational coldhearted explanations ive laid out. #qi ye #qy meta

[geneticcatalyst]

god ch 47-62 of qi ye is just like. the entirety of the 'destroy helian qi' plot is just like. from the scene in the carriage where jby is like hey do you think that was fucked up even for us and zzs is like nah :) but if it was :) your hands are just as dirty... all the way up to, like, su qingluan's little plot and jiuxiao Finding Out, everything between those points is just the jenny holzer quote like "there is a period where it is clear that you have gone wrong but you continue. sometimes there is a luxurious amount of time before anything bad happens."

#to be clear i love this fucking book i love watching guys lives fall apart and i love bad decisions and murder #just doing some half awake web weaving #qi ye #i read that whole section straight through today and experienced 1826151 emotions all over again #obsessed with them. #gen reads