Hey Hi! The Scene Of Jiang Cheng Being An Angry Grape And Tossing His Cape Could Be Referencing The Chinese

Hey hi! The scene of Jiang Cheng being an angry grape and tossing his cape could be referencing the Chinese phrase "割袍断义" (gē páo duàn yì), which is taken from an actual event that occurred in history and literally means "to cut your robe and break a relationship". Basically refers to the ending of friendship or any close interaction due to differences in values and opinion! So JC probably did that as a show of officially denouncing WWX. (Although the way he did it was really very dramatic hehe)

anon!!! thank you for my entire life!!

this is so wonderful! i had forgotten about this particular idiom. thank you for bringing in to my attention. the jiang cheng scene now makes so much more sense, but also still ridiculously and absurdly dramatic, i love it so much!!

i just went ahead and skim read the baidu-baike article for 割袍断义 and it’s so interesting. lskg;lkdsg god leave it to a fucking show about one (1) utterly devastating disaster bicon to suddenly get me unendingly fascinated by and absorbed in learning about chinese literature and language, and all the poignant background stories for these idioms, which I totally glossed over as a child sitting in chinese school and wanting nothing more than to go home and doodle

adult me @ child me: u will regret this so hard

The Knife That Twists

A story about how these four people love and hurt each other over the years, which leads Nie Huaisang to make a choice about justice.

Side note: All the break titles are dao techniques. Because in his own way, Huaisang wields a dangerous blade as well.

切 Qiē: to slice

Nie Huaisang is waiting for his brother when he hears the knock, too gentle to be da-ge. And anyway, Mingjue wouldn’t knock. “Hello?” he calls out, curious.

The young man who enters is tall, nearly as tall as his brother, but slender and graceful, slipping around the door silently to bow.

Oh. It’s Lan-da-gongzi. Or rather, Zewu-Jun, as he’s recently been named. His brother’s…well…his brother’s. Huaisang isn’t sure exactly what they are, but he sees the way da-ge’s eyes follow this man with a look of stunned surprise he doesn’t wear for anyone else, so he knows they’re something.

“Gongzi, my apologies. You weren’t expecting me,” he says carefully, dark eyes searching Huaisang’s face. “Your brother asked me to come and tell you…he’s been unexpectedly called away. There is a skirmish on the border, and he regrets he will not be able to join you.” 

Huaisang huffs and slumps down on his bed, bitterly disappointed. He shouldn’t be angry, he knows da-ge wouldn’t have left if he didn’t have to, but this is usually his favorite part of the week. It’s the only time they spend together anymore, and he glares at Zewu-Jun as though it is his fault.

To his surprise, the man doesn’t leave. “Can I help you instead? Nie-xiong told me what the two of you were planning. I…I can help.” 

He sounds uncertain, and it makes Huaisang like him better. He always seems so calm and serene, and in the few times he’s visited Bujing Shi, Huaisang can’t remember him speaking more than ten words in a row. He wonders what on earth his brother could possibly find interesting about him. Well, Huaisang decides, noting the straight nose, high cheekbones, and full mouth, he’s handsome enough. Maybe that’s all that matters.

He looks at Zewu-Jun’s hands with their long musician’s fingers, and thinks about the offer. It will be strange, letting someone else braid his hair, but…it has to be done. He can’t go out without looking like a somewhat respectable Nie.

“Fine. Are you sure?”

The smile that curls around Zewu-Jun’s face gives Huaisang a little more understanding of what his brother sees.

“I am.” 

He sinks down onto the floor and beckons Huaisang to sit in front of him. Silently, Huaisang hands him the comb and thread and steels himself for the pain of inexperienced hands.

But Zewu-Jun’s fingers are deft and agile, starting at the forehead and twisting Huaisang’s hair into plaits nearly as quickly as Huaisang himself could have done. He tries not to be impressed. As Zewu-Jun works, he begins to hum softly, and Huaisang relaxes, giving in to the pleasure of being fussed over, even if it’s not by da-ge. Da-ge would never have hummed.

Zewu-Jun pulls the plaits together and secures them at the top of Huaisang’s head, looping them into an intricately woven pattern before fastening the silver clasp and handing Huaisang the mirror.

“Where did you learn that?” Huaisang can’t resist asking, admiring the tight braids artfully draped. The man’s laugh is like a lightly plucked guqin string.

“Nie-xiong showed me when we met,” he says, leaning toward Huaisang as though it is a shared secret. “I practiced in case it was ever important. Now I am glad I did.”

Huaisang isn’t sure why, but he wants to keep Zewu-Jun’s warm smile on his face a little longer. He bows. “Thank you Zewu-Jun. Would you have tea with me?”

The smile stays and widens. “Gongzi, it would be an honor.”

砍 Kǎn: to chop

Huaisang knows he shouldn’t hide in cupboards anymore, but sometimes he likes to read…things he isn’t supposed to read, and he’s less likely to get in trouble if he’s in a cupboard.

He hears voices and freezes. Laughter, indistinct words, rustling of robes. He peers through the small crack between the cupboard doors, but he can only see part of the room. There is a man just inside the edge of his view and someone else not quite visible.

“Play for me?” da-ge asks, a throaty rumble in his voice, and Huaisang knows who the other person must be. There’s no one else his brother uses that voice for. The laughter confirms it.

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happy father’s day, found ones and all.

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Jin Guangyao’s Violation of 忠孝仁义

So I had written about WWX and his strong sense of 忠孝仁义 last week. While I was writing it, I kept on thinking about JGY and how he managed to violate all of these virtues. I wanted to go into this characterization of him because I find it so interesting how opposite he is to WWX in the decisions he made. (Warning: i’m not nice to JGY here so if you don’t want him dragged, don’t read?)

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Happy Fathers’ Day to the best dads A-Yuan could have dreamed of !

Hi! Loving your meta on suibian :)) Just wondering what were your frustrations with cql, especially considered you've watched this in multiple mediums? (I've only watched cql)

Hi anon! thank you so much!

Oh boy, you’ve unlocked a boatload of hidden dialogue, are you ready?? :D (buckle up it’s oof. Extremely Long)

@hunxi-guilai please consider this my official pitch for why I think the novel is worth reading, if only so you can enjoy the audio drama more fully. ;)

a few things before I get into it:

I don’t want to make this a 100% negative post because I really do love CQL so much! So I’m going to make it two parts: the changes that frustrated me the most and the changes I loved the most re: CQL vs novel. (again, don’t really know anything about donghua or manhua sorry!!) Sound good? :D

this will contain spoilers for the entirety of CQL and the novel. just like. All of it.

talking about the value of changes in CQL is difficult because I personally don’t know what changes were made for creative reasons and what changes were made for censorship reasons. I don’t think it’s entirely fair to evaluate the narrative worth of certain changes when I don’t know what their limitations were. It’s not just a matter of “gay content was censored”; China also has certain censorship restrictions on the portrayal of the undead, among other things. I, unfortunately, am not familiar enough with the ins and outs of Chinese censorship to be able to tell anyone with certainty what was and wasn’t changed for what reason. So I guess just, take whatever my opinions are with a grain of salt! I will largely avoid addressing issues related to how explicitly romantic wangxian is, for obvious reasons.

OKAY. In order to impose some kind of control on how much time I spend on this, I’m going to limit myself to four explicated points in each category, best/worst. Please remember that I change my opinions constantly, so these are just like. the top contenders at this specific point in my life. Starting with the worst so we can end on a positive note!

Henceforth, the novel is MDZS, CQL is CQL.

CQL’s worst crimes, according to cyan:

1. Polarizing Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao on the moral spectrum

I’ve heard rumors that this was a censorship issue, but I have never been able to confirm or deny it, so. Again, grain of salt. 

The way that CQL reframed Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao’s character arcs drives me up the wall because I think it does a huge disservice to both of them and the overarching themes of the story. Jin Guangyao is shown to be responsible for pretty much all the tragedy post-Sunshot, which absolves Wei Wuxian of all possible wrongdoing and flattens Jin Guangyao into a much less interesting villain.

What I find so interesting about MDZS is how much it emphasizes the role of external forces and situations in determining a person’s fate: that being “good” or “righteous” at heart is simply not enough. You can do everything with all the best intentions and still do harm, still fail, still lose everything. Even “right” choices can have terrible consequences. Everyone starts out innocent. “In this world, everyone starts without grievances, but there is always someone who takes the first blow.”

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