Feng-huli - Leon

Dashing Youth Jin Xuan Official Poster Collection

Baili family behind-the-scenes silliness

Somethings can only be achieved through chaos.

Dashing Youth 少年白马醉春风 (2024) | Ep 28

Li Junxian fashion photoshoot

free my girl yi wenjun she was the softest and nicest character in the whole dashing youth series. i need to cradle her gently like a baby bird and set her free into the world, away from toxic ass guys like xiao ruojin

she was literally indoctrinated by her father and entire sect to accept a loveless marriage to prince jingyu and cut off from the rest of the world and any help she could have gotten (redirecting baili dongjun's mail and replying on her behalf 😬), presumably from a very young age.

she only has a pretty average level of martial talent, and it's worthless compared to her dad or luo qingyang (future sword deity). she could never bust her way out on her own. if she asked luo qingyang for help, she would simply be putting him in the same position as herself—trapped between staying (filial piety) and helping her leave (following their heart). and she would never do that because she's so nice T-T

she waited for ye dingzhi even up to her wedding day!!! she was stalling so much even when there wasn't really any choices left!!!

and when she was finally in gusu with ye dingzhi, she got manipulated with dreams of her firstborn kid dying in probably messed up ways. her sleep schedule is getting disrupted frequently in disturbing ways, and some guy shows up to confirm her worst fears. what's wrong with her caring for the life of her child??

tbh there's no good path for her. if she stays in gusu, viewers will call her heartless and a child abandoner. as a mother, even unwantedly, she's taking some responsibility to go see her son that's supposedly 'severely ill and near death'. she 100% knows there's a chance she might get caught in tianqi and forcibly returned to the emperor, but she still takes the chance. because her heart is full of compassion. and there's nothing wrong with that.

if she leaves, which she ultimately did, her second (perfectly healthy and safe) son would be quickly looked after by his loving and present dad. baby anshi never is left alone while conscious, and there is always someone looking after him when he opens his eyes.

i think the trouble lies in viewers who watched BoY knowing the son she goes to see eventually becomes a total shitbag while the son she 'abandons' becomes wu xin, a loveable main character. but at this point of time, both are still innocent babies. BoY viewers would know it's not 'worth it' to care for prince yu. but that's the benefit of hindsight that she doesn't have!! all she knows is that her prince of a son doesn't have maternal clan support and has no political leverage in the imperial struggle for power. who knows who is looking after her son on a day to day basis. would they be nice to prince yu even if they have nothing to gain from it??

whatever decision yi wenjun makes, she will still be labelled as a heatless mother who abandoned her son by the major forces in the world who have a lot to gain by manipulating yi wenjun's story. there is no grace in the story for her and she's given no good options.

___

compassion is a central theme to the story of dashing youth. yao yue realises that reigniting war between beique and beili would only cause unnecessary bloodshed for everyone, hence she walks away from the cause even at the expense of her family. xin baicao treats every patient that endures the journey to medicine valley, even if they leave him alone at the end. baili dongjun saves ye dingzhi after their final battle because he cares for his best friend even if the whole world believes ye dingzhi to be the leader of all evil, plain and simple.

the death of compassion is what makes characters turn to evil, most notably with xiao ruojin in xiao ruofeng's backstory reveal. xiao ruojin watched as even the lowliest servants refused to save the life of his younger brother because their mother wasn't a favoured consort. they had nothing to gain from it and hence did nothing. that was a life altering realisation for the young prince who would eventually turn into a heartless lord and an even more heartless emperor.