ModaoZushi

Yunmeng Jiang feels . Lignin @ Ao3 . Ligninandink is my main tumblr. OldLignin on Twitter.

[sosuperawesome]

Qing Han on Instagram

Follow So Super Awesome on Instagram

[darklanwangji]

For MDZS fandom peeps who've been using her art (a lot of times w/o her consent):

https://twitter.com/rincredible/status/1226854757752430595?s=19

The best red panda on Twitter

“It's likely that many people outside a specific section of the Twitterverse didn't know of @QinniArt, who just passed away. But if you've

[laine-o]

I’m in shock. I literally just wrote about Qinniart in my art inspirations post 2 days ago. She had been battling a lot of health issues for years, the most recent of them being cancer. I just heard the news of her passing this morning. She has been an inspiration to me for over a decade and I can’t believe the world has lost her so soon. It is way too soon. I believed she was going to make it.

Rest In Peace dear, kind, strong and pure soul. I hope you’re out there floating among the beautiful galaxies and cosmos that you painted and drew so much. I hope you’re up there painting with a luminous and gorgeous brush of stardust.

[darklanwangji]

Just in case people don't know but have been using her art:

https://twitter.com/rincredible/status/1226854757752430595?s=19

The best red panda on Twitter

“It's likely that many people outside a specific section of the Twitterverse didn't know of @QinniArt, who just passed away. But if you've

[ohsehuns]

“Happy New Year ~” ©寂星Kepler

[softweilan]

[191222] 边江 Bian Jiang & 阿杰 A-Jie won “国漫年度声音 Voice Of The Year” at the 4th Golden Guduo Network TV and Film Festival

[ohsehuns]

Toshiyuki Morikawa as Lan Xichen for the Japanese ver. of Mo Dao Zu Shi audio drama “Seeing your face, it seemed like you wanted Wei Wuxian to come along. So I agree.”

[razberryyum]

I AM DYING HE IS AMAZING HE WILL BE THE PERFECT BIG BRO XICHEN!!!! Can’t believe they got him, talk about rich-gege, Team audio drama definitely has some deep pockets!

[lansizhuis]

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

[whovian-on-ice]

Happy Birthday, Lan Wangji! (01.23.)

[darklanwangji]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Wei Wuxian's back from the dead and Jiang Cheng's not impressed. Neither was their once sister Jiang Yanli but she's a lot more understanding than him. In fact, everyone is more understanding than Jiang Cheng. This, at least, he understands. What he doesn't get is why now and why him? Why not Lan Wangji?

Whatever Wei Wuxian is looking for, he doesn't know. Doesn't care, in all honesty. He just wants to be left alone, to go quietly about his life and quickly fade into irrelevance.

[three--rings]

MDZS, Sex, and Consent, Part 4 (Oh god why is there a part 4)

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three)

Until @tonyglowheart reminded me, I’d forgotten there is an extended/alternate version of the Chapter 111 sex scene that was only in the Traditional Chinese hard copy of MDZS.  So this is basically, MXTX’s revised-revised version of the scene, and likely the closest to her actual intent?  It’s more explicit than the other versions.

Luckily, there’s a nice translation of it.   It only covers the second half of the scene.  So all my quotes are going to be thanks to @bigbadredpanda.

Afficher davantage

[bigbadredpanda]

Thank you @three–rings for the thorough and informative posts. I haven’t really read the other translations so it’s fascinating to see the differences of interpretations and word choices and how they affect the reader. I’d like to provide a translator’s point of view on the hardships of conveying tone and interpreting the context.

First and foremost, every translation is a subjective interpretation. My translation follows my own understanding of the original text, of the characters, of the context. That’s one key aspect that makes Chinese so complex to translate, it’s a language that relies heavily on the ability to perceive the contextual clues in order to understand the implicit meaning.

Meanings

Unlike English which is a more precise language, Chinese commonly expresses with a single word a wide range of meanings that can even be contradictory.

In chapter 111, while Wei Wuxian is begging for mercy during sex, he says “你厉害，你太厉害了”. That’s the line that was translated as “you’re too much, you’re way too much” (ExR) and something along the lines of “you’re good, you’re too good” (chiaki_himura for the google doc) or “you’re amazing, you’re the best” (myself). If you break down the sentence, the literal meaning is “you are 厉害, you are too 厉害”. It’s this word, 厉害, that is the source of divergence between the different translations. Here are the dictionary definitions given by MDBG:

So nine meanings and one noticeably different than the others. It’s not like there is a consensus either, Fanyi Baidu doesn’t even have that last one:

In a vacuum, these are all valid translations of the word. If you had only “你厉害” to go by, you could understand it as “you’re merciless/harsh/unbearable/great”. That’s why when someone asks for help to translate a bit of Chinese, the first question that’s going to be raised is “What’s the context?” The ability to understand the context is something that is honed by practising the language and can’t be obtained from a glance at a dictionary. 厉害 is used fundamentally to convey a high degree of intensity. It can be negative if it’s about a person’s temperament or positive if it’s related to their skills. The positive meaning is also more frequent in everyday and colloquial speech, you can exclaim “厉害!” or “Awesome!” in praise of something or someone.

To me, it was in that positive sense that Wei Wuxian used the word within the context of that scene. He also used that same word a bit earlier when he was waxing lyrical about Lan Wangji, “How can such a gorgeous beauty play the guqin so well, have such proper penmanship, possess such strong spiritual energy, be endowed with such high cultivation base and even be so 厉害 in bed?”. That one is pretty much unambiguous. There’s other instances of the word like for example in chapter 38 where it’s Lan Jingyi proclaiming that Hanguang-Jun is amazing. Hence my choice of translation.

Implicitness

Chinese language permits to use words in parsimony. Dropping the subject or the verb in a sentence is commonly done without that affecting the comprehension because it’s understandable from the context.

In writing, you can make oblique references and not expound on the action of who does what exactly. In chapter 111, Lan Wangji muffles Wei Wuxian to stop his teasing. It was alternatively translated as a kiss or a hand covering his mouth or left vague. The original Chinese is just that, he “blocked his mouth”. (The audio drama makes it a kiss.)

Similarly, in the Taiwan extra, Wei Wuxian taunts Lan Wangji into using the silencing spell on him to prevent him from being overly rowdy during their nighttime activities. Lan Wangji then “seals” his mouth. As I was reading it for the first time, I thought that he did use the silencing spell but no, Wei Wuxian starts rambling again less than a paragraph later. I had missed the contextual clues that Lan Wangji had leant towards Wei Wuxian to seal his mouth, meaning that he had shut him up with a kiss again.

I’m fairly certain that this kind of bare-bones and oblique descriptions wouldn’t be ambiguous to the average Chinese reader with the intuitive linguistic and cultural awareness that can only be ingrained through immersion. (I’m leaving aside cases of more figurative descriptions that are subject to interpretation) When translating in English, you would feel the need to overtranslate for the sake of clarity.

Tone

Tone not being conveyed properly and leading to misinterpretations is something that’s been bothering me… Not only the playful banter from the sex scenes but also some forms of speech with sarcasm or rhetorical questions that I see taken at face value. For example, at one point, Wen Ning addresses Jin Ling by his courtesy name, Jin Rulan. Jin Ling snubs him and asks “Who’s that?’. He’s being scornful, he does know that it’s his own name but refuses to answer it. (Because it sounds too sissy according to MXTX. Yes, that’s from the boy who named his dog Fairy. Though he probably also has complicated feelings over this courtesy name because of the person who chose it)

I try to pay special attention to the speech of the characters when I translate. Wei Wuxian is this voluble talker who frequently uses in Chinese sentence-final particles when he speaks. (Lan Wangji pretty much never does) These are Chinese characters that don’t carry actual meanings but are used to express the speaker’s attitude and to nuance to what is stated. Some are used for emphasis, to make a statement obvious, to soften what is said, etc… They’re often left untranslated in English because there is seldom an equivalent so some information on the speaker’s intent ends up being lost.

Some examples:

These definitions don’t even cover the whole range of expressiveness that can be conveyed with these particles, they’re very versatile. When Wei Wuxian goes “Lan Zhan a”, it sounds much more enthusiastic than a normal “Lan Zhan”. Or surprised or flustered depending on the context. 

Finally, I’d also like to mention that there are clues in the bath scene in chapter 95 that Lan Wangji sobered up before the heavy petting. His speech pattern is different when drunk. But that’s perhaps a discussion for another day. The audio drama also makes it clearer with the tone of his voice. I really can’t recommend enough the audio drama, the voice acting adds so much to the comprehension of the original text with the intonations used. (Even though the audio drama isn’t explicit, you can tell that Wei Wuxian is unabashedly teasing and is having the time of his life during their first time together…)

[darklanwangji]

AU in which CQL!Lan Wangji DOES stand with Wei Wuxian

.A glimpse of Dark!Lan Wangji reveals himself when the Yiling Laozu loses the will to live after Jiang Yanlie dies and from the accumulated stress.  Wei Wuxian never gets the chance to head for that jagged cliff, Lan Wangji knocks him out.  He makes a run for it leaving the Cultivators to whomever is manipulating events. Because he is done.

.(This finally clues Lan Zichen in because he knows his brother and this behavior is abnormal in the extreme.  This also sparks suspicion in Nue Hueisang...which will become full blown revenge scheming when Nie Mingjue dies.)

.Lan Wangji goes first to Yiling and nearly loses his shit after finding a hidden, malnourished and badly soiled Wen Yuan.  The child has open sores and infections developed from laying in his own feces for several days. He cleans Wen Yuan up and, still with an unresponsive WWX, sets off again knowing staying in one place too long is not good.

.He stumbles across Xiao Xingchen who is already blind at this point.  XXC's heard of the Sunshot Campaign AND what came after. XXC figured out that WWX is his Shijie's child long after they met.  He rushed back but thought he was too late.

.The two struggle to keep WY and WWX in the world of the living.

.In one of LWJ's exhaustive searches for spirit grass to make into medication and salves he runs into Luo Qingyang aka Mianmian.  At the same time random Cultivators recognize LWJ and attacks, meaning to take him back to Gusu Lan and receive handsome rewards for finding him.

.Before MM could do anything to help, Dark!LWJ's already taken cared of it.  He does not hold back. He nearly destroys their Golden Core if not for MM reminding him that WWX would probably not like what he's doing.  He cripples them instead. Permanently.

.He asks if MM would like to join their haphazard Flight To Somewhere Safe?  With one more person joining the team they're able to stabilize A-Yuan, leaving only WWX still in a disassociated mess.

.When it's XXC's turn to go out, MM goes with him.  They separate outside of an unnamed city and she finds Song Zichen.  XXC is robbed by A-Qing and he pretty much adopts her on the spot. They all meet again to go back with precious people and materials they've gathered.  (A-Qing only comes along to be close to XXC, let's be real.)

.LWJ and SZC take turns next to go out and get supplies.  They run across a heavily injured Xue Yang. They bring him back because SZC is still righteous even if LWJ is slipping slowly away.  XY, bluntly called a perpetual Work in Progress by LWJ, is beside himself with glee at being in the same place as XXC.

.LWJ has no qualms about using XY like a coal canary to sense if he fucked something up beyond repair with demonic Cultivation when trying to reach WWX's traumatized mind.

.SZC hasn't forgotten what the little twerp has done and is adamant that XY's not allowed to wander freely, either.  (XY has deity binding rope cuffs around his wrists making him unable to lift anything heavier than his shoes as a result.)

.XY respects exactly no one and continues trying to murder people until Dark!LWJ has had enough.  No one is sure what happened but XY is now scared shitless of LWJ.  It doesn't stop XY's murderous tendencies (LWJ isn't always around) but no one actually gets murdered despite XY's increasingly fantastic attempts.

.Lan Wangji realizes he inadvertently created a sect.  He shrugs when everyone came together to figure out how to go from there/label their Sect.  No one can agree. So he calls them all annoying and wishy washy, and now they are Whatever Sect because Suibian the sword is dearly missed by LWJ.

.And that's his story and he's sticking to it.

.LWJ may be the founder but XXC and SZC are the "face" of the Sect.  Bless them both, they are trying to be proper, responsible role models for the kids but...yeah.

.MM is Head Disciple with an iron-clad discipline.  She's also an unrepentant prankster with a particular gift towards the Chord Assassination technique.  She likes creating deadly, layered traps catered specifically towards XY to see how quick he is on his feet.  Or maybe she just likes making him jump on command.

.A-Yuan is very capable, ruthless and will end you with a single look from LWJ but is also fair.  His grasp of the Qin language is second only to LWJ, delicate and insidious. He can turn the unwary into his puppets with it. Sometimes will take pity on XY and give him vague hints on what the day or night or next turn around the corner has in store for him.  Mostly he's off taking care of WWX if LWJ isn't able to or taking care of LWJ whenever be can sneak in the chance.

.A-Qing has zero interest in Cultivation despite her talents.  She does it grudgingly because it makes XXC and SZC happy. She also teams up with MM to torment XY on occasion.

.XY couldn't give two shits about learning even more crap but likes showing off his more bizarre abilities.  He's also exhausted from being. On. Guard. All. The. Time. He really hasn't had the chance to cause much mischief.  Not that it's going to stop him from trying his damnedest.

.On one of XY's escape attempts he ends up literally falling atop Mo Xuanyu.  They nearly scare the life out of each other. Hot on XY's heels are A-Yuan, A-Qing and MM.  They drag Mo Xuanyu back to their Sect when they noticed that he's actually incredibly, intuitively, talented with demonic Cultivation.  LWJ is gonna wanna know about this kid.  (LWJ instantly has MXY help out with WWX.)

.Well, that and every time they run into MXY he seems to be ignored, being abused/bullied or bullying others.  The kids reason that they can give as good as he gives. So they should be his opponent/buddies instead.

.XY and MXY get along like a house on fire.  Of course.

.XY is v disgusted that MXY is similarly gifted as MM towards the Chord Assassination technique. MXY is surprised to realize he's useful and others, like the eerie Hanguang-Jun (Did he take a vow of silence?!?!) actually values his input.

.A-Yuan and A-Qing keeps trying to befriend XY in their own way.  XY has no idea what that's about and for once in his adult life is horrified.  (Also A-Yuan is LWJ's son. XY's not interested in becoming bait of any kind ever again, courtesy of a calmly furious LWJ during that one time kthnxbai.)  He'd rather be trussed up like a pig to be roasted then endure their attempts at...whatever they're trying to do.

.He spends a lot of time trying to get away and maybe, sort of, teaches everyone how to hunt down wily prey.  AKA humans. XXC also teaches them, including a startled XY, how to survive if one or more of their senses are no longer working.  Combined this makes the kids elusive and self sufficient when they're finally allowed to venture out. (And terrifyingly effective spies/assassins.)  Not that XY and MXY needed much help in that department but the self discipline and patience forcefully taught was...needed.

.The Sect offers reading and writing classes.  They start to host all kinds of teachers and scholars, workshops and exercises.  They invite wilderness survival guests who take whoever wants to live off the land and not worry about farming into the forests to basket makers and monks.  They elevate aged farmers and lonely elders in the area into teachers who impart their hard won, real life wisdom to newbie farmers or anyone interested.

.Not everyone likes this.  Lots of classism, racism and sexism comes into play.  The Sect does its best to stand by XXC's shining ideals and personal warmth but often fall short.  They are human after all.

.The area they sort-of settled in suffers massive natural disasters.  They end up becoming lifelines to many rural folks. This goes a long way to settle ruffled feathers.  They are still considered "outsiders" by the village bigots and those who are scared of change but they are less vocal.  Mostly those types died out though.

.(Most of the Jianghu and Cultivation world are still unaware that LWJ and WWX are with them.  Or even alive.) They organize the displaced folks when lawlessness breaks out due to a combination of famine, disease and general human misery.

.This further endears them to the people of this area.  The Sect is hidden in plain sight by then.

.Some years down the road MM falls in love, her beloved gets thoroughly interrogated by everyone.  She reveals exactly what she is, part of a "bad/evil" sect, to him but it doesn't matter.  He accepts all of her.

.They have a child.

.This infant is introduced to WWX, as part of a now established tradition.

.WWX slightly, briefly responds. LWJ comes to life.

.WWX fully awakens when MXY casually mentions the Ghost General still exists... tortured and trapped.

[darklanwangji]

UPDATE on AO3!

[ao3commentoftheday]

What is the general fandom attitude towards bookmarks? Is it seen like Kudos + commenting (in that you leave it on each fic u like)? Bc I left a comment on a fic I liked, and when the author responded they kinda passive aggressively mentioned that I hadn't bookmarked it, which made me feel guilty, but I like saving bookmarks for my favourite fics. Is this author's attitude unusual, or am I just being rude?

There is no “general fandom attitude” towards pretty much anything, anon 😆

When it comes to comments, kudos, bookmarks, mark for later, user subscriptions, work subscriptions, etc. the only rules are the ones you make for yourself. 

We all have different ways of organizing things in our minds. Some people use their browser to bookmark fics. Some people make all bookmarks private. Some people don’t bookmark at all. Do what works for you. 

That author needs to check themself and realize that they can’t dictate how other people interact with their fics. That’s not how it works. Creators post their works and it’s up to readers/viewers/listeners to decide how they react to it. 

*hugs* you did absolutely nothing wrong, anon. I promise.

[arsenicjade]

Wow. Just. Sob. So much sob.

Like, 3000% agreement that there is no consensus on anything in fandom, but I really wish we could have a consensus that we’re all gonna treat each other with respect and kindness.

As I have said before, I love bookmarks. I do, they fill my soul with unicorns and joy. But part of the reason I love them is because I’M NOT ENTITLED TO THEM. I’m not entitled to comments, to kudos, to people even clicking on, let alone reading my stories. All of those things are a bonus for any writer. Period.

Literally the only thing I’m entitled to as a writer is being treated with respect. The way every freaking human being should be. You, as the reader in this instance, are also super entitled to respect, and I’m sad you didn’t receive it in this case.

You continue doing you, anon, you’re good just the way you are.

[razielim]

For perspective, the spectrum runs all the way to “I forget that bookmarks even exist until I see a tumblr post talking about them, and even then I don’t care to go see what bookmarks may or may not have been left on my fics. Only comments are a real thing to me, and I only remember those exist while checking my email.”

You do you, anon, bc each author and each reader is different, coming to ao3 with different histories, attitudes, perspectives, emotional needs, etc. Express your appreciation for fics as you are inspiried to, if and when you are inspired to, and don’t let it become a fear-based experience, for your own health, happiness, and well-being. 🖤🖤

[kainissoable]

#straight up ​LURKING is still a valid form of fandom participation

I was a fandom lurker for most of my teeens. Between that and writing for small fandoms, I count success by hits as much as anything. You’re good, anon, and the writer was in the wrong.

[densonkate]

[reallygrossmdzsthoughts]

You ever think about the juniors (+JL) getting fed up with WWX's late sleeping habits and laziness throughout the day using LWJ's everyday as an excuse, so they decide to hide and watch to prove it's bullshit, only to witness the noble Hanguang-Jun turn into the feral unrelenting sex god WWX always claimed him to be as he fucks WWX hard, marking him everywhere, and not stopping until he's satisfied rounds later no matter WWX's pleas. They worry over him like an injured person from then on.

Please consider the lengths the juniors would have to go to, to keep Jin Ling from breaking cover and yelling. There are gags involved, I’m pretty sure.

[ikebanaka]

Holy shit Jiang Chang’s parents never fucking stop with the emotional abuse

Boy ain’t my favorite character, but I’m forming a protection squad anyways, because someone needs to defend his skill and tell him he has value as a person and as a cultivator

Reblog if you wanna join the Jiang Cheng Protection Squad

[equikage]

‘talk’

[equikage]

good talk

[astudyingreer]

hey so like

hi, you. yeah im talking to you. You like my stuff from time to time and reblog once and a while, and I always recognize you in my notes. we’ve never talked, maybe you dont like to say much or you’re nervous or something. it’s okay, whatever it is. 

I see you. you mean a lot to me. sometimes when I’m having a hard day, I’ll notice your name once again in my notifs and it makes me smile. im not kidding.

I don’t care if you’re a “ghost” follower or you send me asks all the time. i see you and I love you so much, genuinely and truly. you are really important to me. 

thank you. thank you for being there. <3

[boohwanj-deactivated20240316-de]

2019-07-17