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it’s here!!

girl help i've put my pre-canon feihua brainrot into writing a 15k fic about them ending with the donghai battle, instead of writing meta about it like a normal person

this is amazing 😍 thank you for feeding my feihua soul so well!!!

I've been recently bewitched by MLC, and my brain has cooked up some FeiHua to share w y'all.

New Fic: "How The Light Gets In" | 10.8k | Rated E | First Time | Missing Scene | Ep 12 Coda | Horrible Bastard Men

I love this so much! @cheetahing this is absolutely perfect, soft husbands dihua is everything, and you wrote them so well 😍😍😍

written for @yijiangchunshui1203 for the @cdrama-action event!

Di Feisheng lets down Li Lianhua's hair with the practiced ease of familiarity, running his fingers through it a couple times before retrieving the comb from the vanity. "What do you do to get it so tangled," he murmurs, working through the knots at the bottom first, "All you do is water plants and lay in the sun." It's not a question that needs an answer and Li Lianhua simply hums in response, letting Di Feisheng tilt his head this way and that as he combs through his hair.

Fandom: Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Rating: E

Relationship: Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua

dihua, sword dance + kiss

 fic meme requests are still open, please feel free to send some in!

*

it's not really much of a sword dance by most standards, just two or three stances; one where he pictures di feisheng in the place an opponent might be and one for his shifu, who died for him, because of him. as the image of his shifu's smiling face fades, di feisheng alights in the exact spot li lianhua visualized him in a moment before. it seems natural to flow through another form, leaves swirling to match the river of his inner power, to come to rest directly in front of him. since he's being sentimental anyway, li lianhua leans up and kisses him. it's only when di feisheng starts with surprise that li lianhua realizes he's real and not a figment of his imagination.

he turns with a cough, acting like nothing happened. "lao di," he says with forced cheer, "what are you doing here?"

di feisheng contemplates him for what feels like an excruciating long time beore he speaks, mercifully not mentioning the kiss. "you tell me," he says. "i felt called."

ah. well that was unintended. li lianhua was trying to say goodbye, not call the man to him.

"how funny," he says, "i was just running some sword forms—"

"li xiangyi," di feisheng says, hand suddenly on li lianhua's face, turing it so di feisheng can look at him, "what's wrong?"

"nothing's wrong," li lianhua says, but di feisheng's hand is already sliding down, fingers at his wrist, frown deepening. li lianhua sighs.

"you're still poisoned. you didn't use the flower?"

for a moment li lianhua considers lying. to anyone else, he probably would, but it's never been particulary effective on di feisheng. "i gave it away," he says lightly. "there was only a thirty percent chance it would have worked anyway. why keep it when there's a dynasty to save?"

di feisheng's face darkens like the sky before thunder. his hand closes around li lianhua's wrist, tightening. "the flower was for you. no one else."

"i know," li lianhua says, and his contrition is honest, at least. "but the emperor needed it and the fang family was in trouble…"

"ah," di feisheng says, and looks away. his hand drops. "i see."

"i'm sorry, lao di. i can't duel you."

"i wanted to," di feisheng says, and then stops. "i should go."

li lianhua has the absurd urge to stop him. it's ridiculous, considering li lianhua is the one planning on disappearing. still, is this the last memory he wants to leave di feisheng with? it's crueler than he was planning on being, but perhaps being kinder wouldn't ease anything but his own conscience.

"all right," he says softly. "i won't keep you."

the look di feisheng is deep and dark; a man could get lost in there if he wasn't careful. "i know," he says, and then he's gone.

Title: this is the nonsense of love // 只想跟你说些温暖的废话 [Read on Ao3]

Fandoms: 莲花楼 Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV)

Warnings: Rated E.

Relationships: 笛飞声 Di Feisheng / 李莲花 Li Lianhua

Words: 6,008, one-shot

Summary:  Everyone knows Li Xiangyi and Di Feisheng aren't really dating. Everyone knows that they can barely stand each other, and they're just pretending to be together for various reasons that make life easier.

Li Xiangyi doesn't care about the gossip, and he assumes Di Feisheng doesn't either — until an old friend comes back into the picture.

[Written for the prompt: they're actually dating but everyone else thinks they're faking it]

written for @yletylyf for the @cdrama-action event!

“Oh, meat buns,” he says, the vendor down the street catching his attention. He pulls A’Fei along by the hand, ignoring the perplexed look he gets in response. This is science! He orders two, biting into his own while A’Fei is still examining the one in his hands like it might grow legs and run off. So suspicious! “Eat, eat,” Li Lianhua urges, chewing. It’s good. The meat is fragrant, spiced just enough to bring out the flavor, and the dough is tender without being so soft that it falls apart in the hand. “If we eat enough here,” he says, “I won’t have to make dinner.” That does it.

Fandom: Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Rating: G

Relationship: Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua

A Jianghu Mystery of the Middle Xi: The Tomb of Li Xiangyi

By Qiling, University of □□ (2024)

Left: A photograph of the inscribed text at Li Xiangyi's tomb, reading, "The grave of the Sigu Sect's departed Sect Leader, Li Xiangyi". Right: Artist's sketch renditions from eye-level frontal and aerial side views, recreating how the tomb may have appeared during the Xi dynasty.

Among the numerous important archaeological finds from the Xi Dynasty, the tomb of Li Xiangyi is not the most well-known, nor has it yielded any artifacts of particular intrigue, yet it has raised questions about certain points in history since its discovery. The tomb constitutes a small site, near a mountainous overlook which should have received little common traffic at the time of construction. Its structure is in line with some other aristocratic burials of the Middle Xi period: aboveground, with a chamber at the center of a raised rectangular dais several meters wide, large enough to bear only a single individual. A stone marker, which has survived in legible condition until today, declares it the tomb of Li Xiangyi, leader of the Sigu jianghu sect.

Records about Li Xiangyi are found at other archaeological sites contemporary with this tomb, and so his name is not an obscure one. The Sigu Sect complex has already undergone excavation for nearly two decades, with evidence that Li Xiangyi spent several years there as its first sect leader and founder. His tomb is within two hours' walking distance of the Sigu site, though isolated in its location, compared to the Sigu Sect's grand mountain entrance. (The complex itself was inhabited well after his death; bamboo slips cite Qiao Wanmian as the Sigu Sect's next major leader some years after, who oversaw it for several more decades into the later Xi). In addition, the Baichuan-Pudu site, closer to the eastern coast and historically the headquarters for the Baichuan Court, is affiliated with Li Xiangyi. Its origins apparently began as an offshoot of the Sigu Sect, which grew into its own independent legal organization after his death.

Legends surrounding Li Xiangyi's life have been well-documented, both at Sigu and Baichuan-Pudu, but also in books and transcriptions of oral stories at sites around the country. These are dated to both the Middle and Late Xi periods, as well as a few scattered mentions in writings from the following dynasty. As a jianghu sect leader and swordsman, Li Xiangyi's reputation truly preceded him. Some tales speak of his early accomplishments, ridding towns of villainous tyrants and defeating criminals. Others talk about the founding of the Sigu Sect when Li Xiangyi was seventeen, and his subsequent missions leading his fellow swordsmen to protect the borders of the country. Not all of these narratives can be verified with surviving historical proof, and given Li Xiangyi's status in the shifting canon of folklore, the percentage that are hyperbole or fiction is likely significant. However, one that is true, and is the most frequently told story throughout these sources, is that of Li Xiangyi's death.

All texts place Li Xiangyi as having died relatively young, with some providing a specified age, generally around twenty. He perished in a duel with Di Feisheng, leader of the Jinyuan Alliance, a rival jianghu organization and presumed threat to the Sigu Sect. As the sources say, the Jinyuan Alliance killed Li Xiangyi's sect brother, Shan Gudao, and in retaliation he used the Sigu Sect to launch a war against the Jinyuan Alliance. His final battle was the last in this war, dying in the East Sea on Di Feisheng's ship. The Jinyuan Alliance in return was badly defeated by the Sigu Sect; excavations at its first compound in the last five years have shown evidence of siege, with fire having destroyed large parts of the buildings. Afterward, the Sigu Sect disbanded without Li Xiangyi, with only the Baichuan Court continuing to function, before being resurrected one decade later.

Given this knowledge we have about Li Xiangyi, the matter of his burial should be straightforward. He had a tremendous impact on the jianghu in the few short years that he stood at its peak. He died heroically, if tragically, to obtain justice for a brother. He was honoured with a tomb, standing guard over the sect he dedicated his youth to. Why, then, is said tomb regarded as somewhat of a mystery?

This tomb was first stumbled upon during extended surveys of the Sigu site territory, with excavation taking place within the last two years. Parts of the stone chamber and foundation of the dais have withstood time, as have most things left inside. The tomb bears no signs of looting. However, there are some details which, alongside discoveries from other archaeological sites, contribute to a shadow of uncertainty on the existing narrative of Li Xiangyi's life.

Firstly, is that the austerity of the tomb does not line up with what we know of Li Xiangyi. Although overall sufficient enough for someone of his great reputation, the tomb is rather plainly embellished. There are an unexpectedly small number of burial objects inside, with those present being neither rare nor expensive. For all his contributions to the jianghu, less money and resources were poured into remembrance of Li Xiangyi than seems proper for his time.

Secondly, and far more significantly, is that the tomb holds no human remains. Whether the fact of Li Xiangyi having no recovered body to bury was made public is unknown; if it was, we do not have record of it. Certainly those who arranged for the tomb to be built and sealed would have carried this with them the rest of their lives, but no one else may be accounted for. Granted, it is not impossible for a disappeared body to have been common knowledge or presumption, as Li Xiangyi was killed at sea with no guarantee of being found. Yet this, combined with the ordinary appearance of the tomb, causes the entire site to appear... a nominal thing. Constructed to maintain acknowledgement of Li Xiangyi's absence, though his death was only marked by words, rather than a physical state.

He was given a tomb, but was Li Xiangyi truly dead before it was built?

In terms of the aforementioned other archaeological site findings, there is one that potentially implicates Li Xiangyi's death at an interesting political junction, within the context of the dynasty. The Xi Dynasty was unstable and relatively short-lived, established after taking back the Central Plains and adjacent territories from the southern conquering state of Nanyin. It endured for just under two centuries, the first of which was fraught with pockets of conflict, with many jianghu skirmishes such as that between the Sigu Sect and the Jinyuan Alliance. The greatest threat to the Xi Dynasty (until its fall) came one hundred years after its founding. Recovered archival records from the Xi capital excavation report that remaining Nanyin loyalists attempted a coup, supported by jianghu organizations, including a restored Jinyuan Alliance (although whether Di Feisheng was still its leader at this time is unclear). This attack was ultimately unsuccessful, but important to note is that the leader of this renewed Nanyin force is described as being Shan Gudao, Li Xiangyi's former sect brother.

Although Li Xiangyi brought the Sigu Sect into a war upon news of Shan Gudao's death, that demise seems to have been faked, with Shan Gudao disappearing underground only to reappear as part of a later rebellion. Could Li Xiangyi have been aware of this? Was his reaction to Shan Gudao's apparent death genuine? Or part of a coordinated plan, using him as a reason to destroy the Jinyuan Alliance to eradicate any future resistance? Did Li Xiangyi, too, fake his death alongside Shan Gudao, in service of a shared cause? Were remnants of the Sigu Sect instructed to build an empty tomb, cementing Li Xiangyi as a dead hero so he could work in the shadows of the jianghu instead?

This is merely speculation, contradicted by the fact that if Li Xiangyi had indeed done as such, unlike Shan Gudao, after his duel with Di Feisheng he has no reappearance in any surviving records or at any archaeological site. As well, Li Xiangyi should have had no motivation for committing to such a scheme, with even loyalty to Shan Gudao a stretch to putting all the lives of the Sigu Sect on the line. That being said, history has a way of surprising the present, and this theory may not be entirely ruled out. At any rate, Shan Gudao's survival is a baffling accompaniment to Li Xiangyi's (lack of a) burial, one which will hopefully receive clarifying answers in future archaeological developments.

Perhaps the strangest piece of the puzzle concerning the end of Li Xiangyi's life, however, is Di Feisheng. After the Jinyuan Alliance was scattered by the Sigu Sect, stories regarding Li Xiangyi declared him dead and disappeared. Yet not unlike Shan Gudao, he became known in the jianghu once more about ten years later, witnessing the Nanyin attempted coup and living long after. His tomb remained intact, and was excavated eight years ago as part of the greater Tianji Mountain site project. The location of Di Feisheng's tomb is surprising, not only because it directly links him to the powerful and wealthy He clan of Tianji Manor, but also because he was buried beside their sole young master during the Xi Dynasty, Fang Duobing.

The son of financial minister Fang Zeshi and engineering master He Xiaohui, Fang Duobing became a notable youxia travelling the jianghu in the emperor's name, assigned in the wake of the attempted Nanyin coup. According to palace records, he was also betrothed to the Princess Zhaoling, although the marriage agreement was eventually formally dissolved. What is otherwise known of Fang Duobing was his admiration of Li Xiangyi, having styled himself as a follower and disciple of him during his youth. As well, one eye-catching artifact among Fang Duobing's burial goods was a preserved wooden replica of a blade, with Li Xiangyi's name carved near the hilt. Likely a children's toy, prized and kept safe throughout Fang Duobing's life.

The exact nature of the relationship between Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing is not entirely certain, but it must have been a very close one, for Di Feisheng to have the privilege of burial on the Tianji estate. This topic justifies future study for our understanding of the Tianji He clan, already known in prior generations for its socially subversive relationships, but pertinent to Li Xiangyi is that the man whose most infamous act was to kill him, was laid to rest next to one who revered him. Why was there such a bond between these two figures, if the stories of Li Xiangyi's death have had any truth to them? Did Li Xiangyi really die by Di Feisheng's blade? Did Li Xiangyi's empty tomb, plausibly signifying Di Feisheng's innocence, alter his relationship with Fang Duobing? Or indeed, did Li Xiangyi, the man himself, have a part to play in this?

No traces of him from this time remain in the archaeological record, true. But this should not be taken to mean without doubt that he was not alive then at all.

The discovery of Li Xiangyi's tomb has been an exciting development for studying this era of the Xi Dynasty, but it has also outlined doubt in areas of one man's life that were previously taken as likely facts. Li Xiangyi's tomb is scarcely fitting for his name as a founding sect leader, built more for the sake of its existence than anything else, and there was no body sealed inside to begin with. In addition, Shan Gudao— someone dear to Li Xiangyi— established a precedent of faking his death. Di Feisheng, known across the jianghu for killing the man, held a close bond with someone later in life who had personally looked up to Li Xiangyi, and so he may not have been fully responsible for Li Xiangyi's death to begin with.

What truly happened to Li Xiangyi, resulting in a tomb such as this? The past holds the answer, knowing things that we do not. Hopefully the future of archaeology will continue leading to new discoveries, and allow us to more completely understand the legend that was Li Xiangyi.

written for @harocat and @yletylyf for the @cdrama-action event!

Fang Duobing arrives in a flurry of snow and bluster, voice loud and imperious as he points at Di Feisheng and says, “You! Finally making an honest man of Li Lianhua, huh?” “Honest?” Di Feisheng says mildly. “Him?” “Hey,” Li Lianhua says, but Fang Duobing has already dissolved into laughter.

Fandom: Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Rating: T

Relationship: Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua

a kiss on a place of insecurity fic meme fill from discord, requests still open. yes, this is the version where dfs survives the purification process.

speaking of discord, consider joining us over on the dihua server!

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some nights li lianhua lies awake and looks at the moonlight caught in di feisheng's hair, silver on silver, the sight of it blinding to his heart if not his eyes. he remembers all too well the sight of di feisheng bloody and triumphant, hair loose and pale, falling around his shoulders like an unseasonable snow drift. what have you done, li lianhua had cried, and di feisheng had smiled with red teeth and all the arrogance of jianghu's demon king when he said saved your life, and collapsed in li lianhua's arms.

li lianhua had been able to tow him back from death's door with the renewed vigor of yangzhouman that time, but his meridians were damaged beyond repair, a lifetime of training and cultivation gone, and for what? a dead man's life? it's not that li lianhua doesn't appreciate the depth of di feisheng's sacrifice or the returned strength of his body, he sometimes just cannot fathom being worth the cost. now, he gathers a handful of di feisheng's moonbright hair and brings it to his lips, presses his love and regret into the strands with kisses that taste of salt.

di feisheng, as always, wakes without a sound. he sleeps more deeply than he used to, both out of familiarity and his diminished senses, but old habits die hard. "what is it," he murmurs and li lianhua shakes his head. di feisheng hums warningly, a sound that means li lianhua won't get away with that tonight, and he sighs.

"don't you ever regret it," he says, still with his handful of moonlight, fingers twined in pale silk. di feisheng turns to face him fully, reaches out to tilt li lianhua's face up until their eyes meet.

"no," he says, and li lianhua's heart swells in his chest, never quite sure how to grapple with di feisheng's absolute pronouncements.

"but your martial arts," li lianhua says, doubt a clinging spectre in his soul, "you worked so hard..."

"i gave it up so you could live and i would do it again," di feisheng says, so sure that li lianhua feels almost embarrassed by his sincerity.

"you could have died," li lianhua says, grasping for his earlier certainty of his own unworthiness.

"i didn't," di feisheng says. "you didn't either. are you not happy?"

"i am," li lianhua says helplessly, disarmed. di feisheng has a way of extinguishing his misgivings by simply suffocating them with his surety. it's infuriating, but also reassuring.

"then it was worth it," di feisheng says, closing his eyes. "go back to sleep."

collab fic written with @la-muerta! ch 5 up, in which at least some version of dfs gets a rematch.

can’t read my poker face

Li Lianhua finds a supertopic on weibo claiming that he’s in a secret relationship with fellow actor Di Feisheng, a relationship so secret that even Li Lianhua didn't know about it until now. It’s impossible. It’s ridiculous. He and Di Feisheng aren’t even friends. The fact that he can’t stop obsessively scrolling through the supertopic is another matter altogether.

Fandom: Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Rating: E (preemptive)

Relationship: Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua

Next chapter of Dance the Silence Down is up! Fang Duobing's week continues a steep slide downhill.