Fei Sheng + Huo Lingyun = Xiao Chiye + Shen Zechuan
I briefly mentioned how Fei Sheng and Huo Lingyun are set up as baby!Xiao Chiye and baby!Shen Zechuan (respectively) here, but now that chapter 214 has given us more material on this, I want to talk more about it.
As I’ve said before, the main conflict for both Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan is internal–they are their own nightmares, their own worst enemies. “Enemies to lovers” is the main conceit of the story, not just in terms of Cezhou’s love story but in terms of oh, pretty much every relationship in the story. (How many of Shen Zechuan’s allies were once his enemy or at the very least his rival/disliked him? I think Ji Gang and maybe Yao Wenyu are the only ones who weren’t.)
So what is the point of this? Well, through reconciling with others, Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan are learning more about themselves–which is the ultimate endgoal of their respective (and intertwined) arcs. The story is pretty Jungian–it’s based on alchemy, and the end goal of literary alchemy and Jungian stories is individualization (becoming your own fully-realized person). It also has elements like reconciling with your shadow (the worst parts of you, usually embodied in another character(s) and oh look that’s the essence of Cezhou). And, another archetype that’s come up in QJJ, is the inner child.
The remnants of the child-soul in the adult are his best and worst qualities; at all events they are the mysterious spiritus rector of our weightiest deeds and of our individual destinies, whether we are conscious of it or not.
While not actual children, Fei Sheng and Huo Lingyun are definitely younger!versions of Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan in their best and worst qualities. Working with them is clearly going to offer both some much needed understanding of what Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan lacked as their younger selves–specifically from when they first met and Xiao Chiye almost killed Shen Zechuan. Hence why again, the main antagonism here is from Fei Sheng–because Xiao Chiye needs this reminder more than Shen Zechuan does.
Shen Zechuan is by nature a more introspective character than Xiao Chiye–he plays a good game of avoiding being honest with himself, but when he’s confronted, he’s not terribly likely to deny it. He immediately recognizes Huo Lingyun for whom he is (himself), even when everyone else is like strongly advising him to beware the pretty vengeful prisoner.
“The firearms seized by Fei Sheng were handed over by Huo Lingyun himself.” Shen Zechuan turned the folding fan between his fingers around and rested it on the side of his hand. “This person is interesting; I do have to meet him.”
Xiao Chiye himself, though? Not so much. While Huo Lingyun is fascinated by Shen Zechuan from first sight and Shen Zechuan is also intrigued, Xiao Chiye is at best apathetic to Fei Sheng. Fei Sheng, for his part, however, really admires Xiao Chiye, and hopes to work with him.
Fei Sheng had only wanted to follow under Xiao Chiye’s command in the past because Xiao Chiye had the unprecedented spirit of a groundbreaking pioneer. On the day they rebelled and fled from Qudu, Fei Sheng had done so willingly and wholeheartedly. But Xiao Chiye refused to accept him, so he could only step back to work under Shen Zechuan instead…
All along, he had never been able to understand the trust Chen Yang and Gu Jin had in Xiao Chiye, but at this very moment, as he stood in the wind and opened his eyes once again, he possessed that trust.
Everyone in this world wants to be Xiao Chiye.
But there can be no other Shen Lanzhou!
(you are Xiao Chiye, Fei Sheng, and this is exactly the sort of thought Xiao Chiye would have)
Even so, Xiao Chiye does order Fei Sheng to essentially act as Xiao Chiye (minus the romance, obviously) while he cannot be with Shen Zechuan:
Xiao Chiye’s coldness to Fei Sheng, however, is just like Shen Zechuan’s fascination with Huo Lingyun: it’s a callback to how Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan felt about their own lives at the start of the novel.
Shen Zechuan took two steps to bypass the water puddle on the ground and said, “…Xiao Chiye, even if you try your best to hide it, you are already used to looking down from above. You are no different from the people who look down on you today. And all those eyes on you now agonize you.”
He laughed out loud and patted Xiao Chiye on the back with a palm.
“I seek to live. You seek to die.”
Xiao Chiye ties his life to other purposes and even to Shen Zechuan’s, but he needs to be willing to live as himself to fully mature and become his own person. Xiao Chiye is not quite able to individualize, while Shen Zechuan is ahead of him a bit. Enter Fei Sheng.
Fei Sheng isn’t particularly thrilled with Huo Lingyun. Actually the text directly states that he hates Huo Lingyun for several reasons, namely that he’s ruthless and vindictive and he humiliated Yin Chang with that initial loss.
Xiao Chiye’s enmity with Shen Zechuan starts because Shen Zechuan’s survival caused many soldiers from Libei to lose their lives, and complicated his brother Xiao Jiming’s victory over Biansha:
Xiao Chiye said coldly, “My intent was to kick him to death. Old Dog Shen allowed a bloodbath to happen in Zhongbo. We have been burying those soldiers in the Chashi Sinkhole for half a month, and we are still not done burying them…. Besides, my eldest brother has been carrying out raids for thousands of li.”
Fei Sheng has similar thoughts about Huo Lingyun:
Fei Sheng served Shen Zechuan, and he had plenty of opportunities to render meritorious service in the future when they established a light cavalry, but Yin Chang might not necessarily have the chance. The old man’s hair and beard were all white now, and he only got to battle this one time after waiting several years. But then, a male consort appeared out of nowhere and took most of the old man’s credit with that bit of dirty, underhanded tricks of his.
Fei Sheng was displeased deep down.
(Also, consider how similar their thought processes are on Huo Lingyun. Xiao Chiye:
If Huo Lingyun had not thrown a monkey wrench into their plans with the firearms, Yin Chang would have been able to take down Fanzhou during his first battle; he would not have given Shen Zechuan the opportunity to even tell him to bring his own head on a platter to meet him.)
Anyways, while both Xiao Chiye and Fei Sheng have ambitions of their own, they are genuine in their respect and desire for Xiao Jiming and Yin Chang to receive credit where credit is due, and do care about others not being needlessly sacrificed. Problem is, these sneaky twinks keep ruining things.
Like Xiao Chiye targets Shen Zechuan right away by making his life harder, Fei Sheng uses chains that are noticeably heavier than normal to restrain Huo Lingyun and presumably cause him physical discomfort. Like Zhao Hui, Lu Guangbai, and other Xiao allies (with Xiao Chiye present and supporting them) argue with Emperor Xiande in an attempt to persuade him to execute Shen Zechuan, Fei Sheng subtly argues for Shen Zechuan to execute Huo Lingyun.
By bringing up Huo Lingyun’s feeding of people to the dogs at this point in time, he was tactfully telling Shen Zechuan in a roundabout way that it was hard for this person to be of great use.
Contrary to Fei Sheng’s expectations, Shen Zechuan did not go along with it.
But, there are some differences. For one thing, Fei Sheng does not actually attempt to take Huo Lingyun’s life. Secondly, he and Huo Lingyun end up working together far more swiftly than Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye did. Fei Sheng also bottles up his hatred and doesn’t actually bully Huo Lingyun like Xiao Chiye did with Shen Zechuan. #progress?
Xiao Chiye cast a glance at Fei Sheng but said nothing. Fei Sheng had done a fairly decent job playing it safe in his handling of Huo Lingyun’s matter. He had held his temper in check and did not attack the other man, and even if he could not stand the sight of Huo Lingyun, he did not go around creating trouble for him. As a result, Xiao Chiye was now finally willing to remember and recognize him.
Basically, Fei Sheng is behaving properly in the exact ways Xiao Chiye did not. This is progress–the younger are doing better than those who came before (another theme). It’s also symbolic that Xiao Chiye responds by finally acknowledging Fei Sheng–through seeing how Fei Sheng does slightly better than Xiao Chiye’s younger self did, Xiao Chiye finally feels like he can acknowledge his younger self… but only once he knew he’d grown from whom he used to be, growth that is symbolically represented in Fei Sheng’s treatment of Huo Lingyun.
Furthermore, it’s notable that this comes up right before Xiao Chiye gets a Certain Letter from Xiao Jiming, a letter that asks him to figure out how to work with someone who might be on Libei’s side but is very much Xiao Chiye’s enemy in all the ways Xiao Chiye finds it hard to forgive (hurting someone Xiao Chiye cares deeply about): Guo Weili, who humiliated, injured, and almost killed Gu Jin. (I mean I haven’t forgiven him either honestly.)
However, if he wanted to put the Libei Armored Cavalry to full use, he would have to overcome the obstacle that was Guo Weili. Otherwise, a lack of unity among the generals who were not of one mind would surely lead to disaster.
Of course, Shen Zechuan is slightly further along in his arc and gives Xiao Chiye Narrative Pointers for how to individuate:
Shen Zechuan felt sleepy in the room. With his eyes half-closed, he murmured softly. “Ce’an… This is an opportunity your eldest brother is giving you.”
Under the dim light, Xiao Chiye recollected the campfire in the snowstorm. Xiao Fangxu had clenched his fist right before his eyes, and amidst the flickering light of the fire, his old man had asked him:
“You want this position, but are you truly qualified enough?”
Essentially, Xiao Fangxu’s memory, Xiao Jiming, Shen Zechuan, and the narrative are challenging Xiao Chiye. Now that he’s accepting his younger version, is he willing to demonstrate himself (not in Fei Sheng) how far he has come by figuring out how to work with Guo Weili? To do so, he’ll almost certainly have to again face the uglier aspects of himself and how he used to be (~shadows~). But if he really wants to advance and become whom he is meant to be, then he has to face it head-on.
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