Im really into this cosplay video. Like after a long time living on the snowy mountain, Wenzhou decided to go visit the human world. At that time, no one knows about them. Just the two of them walking, enjoy the moment together. Its so heart-warming.
Vào một ngày cuối năm tuyết rơi không nhiều, ta cùng người thắp nến chong đèn, dựa vào nhau dạo chơi chốn nhân gian. Khi ấy tựa như mọi khoảnh khắc thời không đều đan xen. Đêm tối hiu quạnh hóa thành phố phường trang hoàng rực rỡ, yên ắng tĩnh mịch hóa thành ồn ào náo nhiệt.
Don't imagine a young Wen Kexing sneaking out of the Valley and returning with armfuls of stolen books. Don't imagine him hiding somewhere and reading them and then turning them to convoluted bedtime stories for Gu Xiang. Definitely don't imagine him coming across a collection of love poems and discovering how much he actually likes poetry for its own merit.
Or some years down the line when he's murdered his way to the top and he starts putting together his revenge plan, and with that his "Philanthropist Wen" persona. And suddenly books are not just a clandestine escape but a necessity because he will need to convincingly pass as a member of a sect. So don't imagine him narrowing down his reading to as many relevant texts as he can find and don't imagine him asking Beauty Ghost (because who else can he ask?) about the sects and they work and most importantly how people behave in them.
And how would his -by necessity- selective reading, combined with Liu Qianqiao's somewhat skewed account and his own tattered memories of Before affect the final image of "Philanthropist Wen"? Would he have sat with A-Xiang and practice scenarios and looks until he got it just right? Would he have taken small trips in nearby cities to see how well his disguise holds up?
How much of his insistence to call himself a scholar is him self-projecting and how much is it deliberate so he can get away with quoting texts because, at least at the beginning, it would have been a legitimate concern that any extended conversation might have poked huge holes in his backstory.
And the thing is, he is good at playing the flirty scholar. In another life that might have truly been him. He enjoys the thrill of the back-and-forth in a conversation, he relishes in the positive attention he receives and he legitimately loves talking about poetry (no one accidentally acquires encyclopaedic knowledge of love poems they can much to the occasion). So yes, it is a mask, but it is one he likes to wear and wear often.
Enter stage left Zhou Zishu who is not impressed by his quoting and flirting, who sees through his mask(s) almost immediately and will both call him out on it and let him get away with it, and who values honesty in relationships (and who can blame him). It is intriguing. It is infuriating and entertaining at the same time because Wen Kexing hadn't had much failure in his routine since he perfected it. It's probably utterly terrifying and he can't get enough. And the warmth he feels the first time he gets Zhou Zishu to smile and blush with a poem was definitely worth all the eyerolls he received before and after.
@queenie-chi-cosplay, I don't know you but you liked my ramble about whether I should post angst so this -waves madly- whatever it is, is dedicated to you.