New head canon lads! I think it's possible that Qi Rong was tortured at some point between the fall of Xianle and his death.
Now before I begin, I'm going to clarify now; to my knowledge, the books never state how Qi Rong dies nor has MXTX clarified that fact. Additionally, this is all my own speculation and research, take all this with a grain of salt. I've watched too much Game Theory in the past week.
TW: Discussion of torture, physical disabilities, Qi Rong
I was rewatching the donghua and noticed that they put a weird amount of emphasis on his legs. They looked bandaged up to me, like he had been trying to fix some kind of wound from when he was alive.
To start off, we know for a fact that traits from a ghosts life carry over when they die. We see this sort of thing happen with both Hua Cheng and Xuan Ji. One without an eye and one with a limp. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the same thing to happen to Qi Rong.
Based on how the Yong'an people are depicted in the book and in the (in a very limited amount) donghua, it wouldn't be out of place for him to be tortured or killed by them. If they were hunting down what was left of the royal family of Xianle, Qi Rong would be included.
Plus, everyone kinda wanted him gone or at least disliked him so it wouldn't help him in any capacity that people were after him.
Upon further research, a popular method of torture during the Ming Dynasty was the ankle crusher.
Quote from 'The World of Chinese' (2024)
"The secret police would force the suspect’s legs between the planks and then pull on the rope at both ends so the wooden boards squeezed tight against the suspect’s feet and legs. The torture would often result in broken ankles."
The kind of damage described here sounds somewhat connected to how they drew Qi Rong here, like he was trying to fix his wounds.
It's made very clear throughout the books and donghua that he hates Yong'an. Could this just be typical fantasy racism? Yes. But I find him to be a more compelling and far more complex character if he has a reason.
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not every mutual fits neatly into an archetypal medievalism but there are some mutuals that im like yeah addressing you as “my liege” would come strangely naturally
Sizhui is in the background trying desperately to appease Jin Ling and apologize and Jingyi is doing the equivalent of this picture trying to avoid making the situation worse
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tian Guan Ci Fu | Heaven Official's Blessing - Moxiang Tongxiu
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: He Xuan/Shi Qingxuan, He Xuan & He Xuan's Family (Tian Guan Ci Fu)
Characters: He Xuan (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Shi Qingxuan, He Xuan's Skeletal Fish (Tian Guan Ci Fu), He Xuan's Family (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Shi Wudu, Hua Cheng (Tian Guan Ci Fu)
Additional Tags: POV He Xuan (Tian Guan Ci Fu), He Xuan is Bad at Feelings (Tian Guan Ci Fu), During Canon, Canon Related, He Xuan is So Whipped (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Mount Tonglu Opening (Tian Guan Ci Fu), How Do I Tag, I tried writing a beefleaf fix-it fic and I somehow made it worse, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, What Was I Thinking?, What Have I Done, First Meetings, content warnings, Mild Gore, Blood, Betrayal, Pain, Title From 'Open Up Your Eyes'
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