Hii, I'm ivy or iedra, this is my side blog for fandom discussions, idk if I'll post much but if i do it'll mainly be about mdzs and tgcf.
English isn't my first language and I'm autistic, so if i misunderstand something you say or if something i say is confusing you're welcome to correct me or ask any clarifying questions.
I stick mostly to novel canon, although i have watched cql, some of the mdzs donghua, all of the tgcf donghua so far and most of the tgcf manhua, but i like the novels the most.
I made this blog mostly because i used to just lurk and maybe say a couple things on the tags, but keep most of my thoughts to myself (and my bff's dms), so I want to try and engage more openly š.
āXie Lian promised to save everyone, and thatās why they were angry!ā Xie Lian told folks to wait and see if amputation would be a cure for the Human Face Plague and to not just jump to conclusions simply because he did something. The people then maimed and killed themselves performing undercover amputations only to get angry at him for saying they were wrong to have done so without waiting to see if it was an effective treatment, thus harming themselves more. The man who he performed the amputation on thanked him, only to get mad later when he relapsed, despite Xie Lian telling him there was a chance this may happen. The people are not mad that Xie Lian gave them empty promises, because he didnāt give them empty promises. Theyāre mad because they took only what they wanted from his rationale statements, faced a bad outcome, but want to shirk responsibility for getting their own hopes up and doing something regrettable.
There is a lack of Ghost fire!Hua Cheng fics and I think that is a shame because there's a lot of character analysis potential by exploring what is arguably the most traumatic period of his life. The condition in itself (A ghost fire) is the antithesis of something he cares about in the present which is having power, and a strong reason why that need was born.
That is the most vulnerable we see him. At least as a kid he could bite and claw and kick to defend himself, a ghost flame is so weak the mere fact he was able to speak was seen as remarkable by Xie Lian.
This entire portion of the volume from Hua Cheng's perspective is the torture of being utterly powerless to do anything. He couldn't give Xie Lian hope with his words, he couldn't give him warm when he was cold, he couldn't defend him from the gods that attacked him and it all culminated with the scene where he was easily restricted in the palm of someone's hand while being forced to watch the man he loves being horrifically tortured, the pain of it is what turned him into a wrath.
What are your thoughts on MTXT not really including or diving deeper into Sizhui's reaction towards the Lan participating in the genocide of the Wens? It's kinda surprising he still lives there post canon. How is there no resentment, anger or sorrow on his end that he was raised by such people?
Given that the story is about letting go of resentment and not continuing the cycle of hate, the one who raised him being Lan Wangji, and the one whoās there to teach him his heritage being Wen Ning, I think Lan Sizhuiās attitude makes sense. His allegiance to the Lan already feels vastly overblown by fandom, but neither is his relationship to the clan unchanged. The moment he rediscovers his memories, he rushes to find wangxian, abandoning Lan Qiren. After this, he directly leaves with Wen Ning to set up a memorial for their fallen clan. When he comes back, he still regularly visits and nighthunts with Wen Ning despite the threat of punishment from his seniors.
Thereās a chance he may make more permanent choices in the future regarding the acknowledgment of his heritage, but at the end of the story (nor during any part of it), I donāt think he viewed the Lan as a monolith that he had to completely reject in order to be true to his slain family. Did the Lan send a group to the Burial Mounds to participate in the siege? Yes. Did every Lan participate or condone the siege? Obviously not. In fact, the Lan who saved his life and raised him stood up for him, his relatives, and his guardian when no one else would. The only connection these two groups have is that theyāre all still part of the same clan with a common ancestor.
wwx antis get so crazy iāve seen them call his parents irresponsible for accidentally dying like .. i really donāt think they meant to leave their baby an orphan help š
People act like being a cultivator is somehow ānaturallyā more dangerous than being a civilian, as if the Sunshot Campaign didnāt spill over into civilian homes, as if the xuanwu of slaughter made sure to keep its rampage exclusive to cultivators, as of the water abyss only drowned cultivatorsā¦ Like, the world they live in is dangerous! And had Wei Wuxianās parents been regular people, stayed home, and still died, these same people would be talking about how irresponsible it was for them to have been in the cultivation world and not learned even the basics of self-defense. Itās a nonsensical argument which only serves the purpose of slandering his parents in place of the people who were actually irresponsible with Wei Wuxianās life and safety: the Jiang leaders.
Jin Ling says to Lan Sizhui that Wei Wuxian is at fault for the death of his grandparents and the fall of Lotus Pier. It's so obvious Jiang Cheng said these things to him omitting the truth that the reason he blames Wei Wuxian is because the man dared to save the life of not just Lan Wangji but also Jin Ling's father :/
It's very obvious that the juniors were raised up on a series of lies that only stood up because the person they were being spun around was dead. The fact that Wei Wuxian's resurrection could so easily discredit literally everything the mdzs adults taught their children and they're ashamed when they get caught shreds apart the argument that the cultivation world "sincerely believed" that they were morally in the right for massacring the Wen remnants and driving Wei Wuxian to death.
Jiang Cheng, in particular, obviously let such lies rest with Jin Ling not because he genuinely cared about Jin Ling's feelings or orphanhood but because he was living vicariously through Jin Ling's hatred and pain. Jin Ling was never a real person to Jiang Cheng until the end of the novel; he was just the avatar that Jiang Cheng was using to extend his own self-victimhood.
I think the reason TGCF is such a tough read for me is that XL suffers such horrific trauma but everyone seems to dismiss it except the narration and HC.
The narration doesn't spare us anything - we get a first row seat to the fall of Xianle, the turn of public opinion against the Crown Prince, the life of XL as a refugee, the horrific experience of being stabbed alive by a hundred people and then gaslit into it being your own fault for advocating for them, the abandonment of his closest friends and family when he can't live up to what he once was, almost becoming a calamity, seeing the futility of revenge, being the state preceptor of the state that overthrew your own, taking up the burden of mass slaughter and being nailed alive into a coffin for it, going back to war for a country you have nothing to do with only to be trampled to death when you try to save some children from the battlefield and then the actual plot. Every one of these instances are described vividly and in detail by the narration. We don't get to shy away from it. XL's life was fucking hard and tragic and we hear all about it.
But no one seems to take it seriously. Not even XL himself. He does not like to dwell on the past - understandably so, it's painful to read how much worse must it be to remember. But everyone else too. I am re-reading vol. 1 now and when it's revealed that General Hua is XL and why he died no one offers any sympathy that it must have been hard to die this way or that he at least saved some children. MQ makes a derisive comment on how it's his own fault for charging out like that and how he never learns to not stick his nose in trouble and the conversation moves on. Only HC seems to see things from XL's perspective, mood noticably souring when he learns of XL's suffering.
And it goes like this everytime. Something of XL's horrific past is revealed, XL tries his level best to focus on something else, someone else makes a disparaging comment and the plot moves along. And as a reader I sit there, trying to grapple with the magnitude of suffering that I am witnessing yet again, on top of everything else I already learned about XL's past and no other character is joining me in that process and that makes TGCF really hard to read for me. It's a novel full with trauma but the continuous dismissal that other characters treat XL with who is an exceptionally kind and resilient person and absolutely will not dismiss other characters the same way makes it traumatic in its own way. XL is the center of the narration, the reason everything unfolds but no character seems to have much care for what happens to him as a person. He serves a function for most of the cast and outside for that he receives almost no regard - except for HC.
Without fail HC will be upset about what happened - even if he already knew of it. He is my - and XL's - saving grace in TGCF because finally someone validates the horrors. What happened to XL was horrific and that no one acknowledges that says a lot about the universe they live in and how little they deserve XL. No wonder XL fell quick and hard. I need HC too to get through.
*bashes head into a wall* xie lian is not naive for trusting hua cheng. xie lian is not reckless for trusting hua cheng. xie lian is eight centuries old and has experienced just about everything. xie lian is used to himself and others dismissing his trauma, his suffering. it's only human to be drawn to someone when it feels like for the first time in your centuries old life span, someone is listening. someone that isnt patronizing him. someone isnt claiming all that he has stood for is wrong and foolish.
who's opinion is he supposed to value here? fxmq? or the heavens who've never agreed with his actions in the first place?
is he supposed to dismiss the sincerity and kindness he sees infront of him (an entire city built for beings considered outlaws, shunned by the world!) or hearsay?
and that's not even discussing how xie lian is able to let loose because he knows if things go south, he'll handle it. he's done it before.
Today, I was explaining the basics of mdzs to someone I hope reads it, and I was struck by a small realization: Lan Wangji is the only character capable of paying the tithe/cost of loving Wei Wuxian and surviving.
Previously, I had thought about this in terms of the tree scene, where someone was finally capable of catching Wei Wuxian before he hit the ground, but today the thought went deeper than that.
Wei Wuxian, after escaping the burial mounds, tells Lan Wangji "I can afford it" (meaning he can pay the price for cultivating the ghostly/deviant path).
During Lan Wangji's drunken reattempted confession, he throws his coin purse out and says "I will pay!" (quite beligerently).
No one else in Wei Wuxian's life has survived the cost of loving him. Wen Qing, Jiang Yanli, and Wen Ning died. Jiang Cheng tried, but regretted it and became resentful. Jin Zixuan gets an honorable mention here, too.
The point has been made before that Lan Wangji had the resources to navigate this violent and archaic world, but I find it fascinating that MXTX had his clan give him a punishment that could have been a death sentence. Lan Wangji surviving his 33 strikes and choosing to live a life he could be proud of is different from having social resources.
This isn't to say the others wanted to die. Wen Ning came back from the dead (kind of) and never resented Wei Wuxian for the losses he suffered. He was prepared to die a second time, alongside his sister, who actively chose to pay the tithe (death) for loving Wei Wuxian. Jiang Yanli, similarly, chose to save Wei Wuxian's life at the cost of her own.
Those sacrifices wounded Wei Wuxian down to the marrow of his soul. He meets Jiang Yanli's son and immediately finds a brook to cry in. Wen Ning shows back up in his life and he's like "run away and hide, I don't want to get you killed again." He wants to sever any connection with Jiang Cheng (which... mood).
But Lan Wangji walks by and Wei Wuxian meets his eyes. He entrusts the Lan juniors and their very dangerous ghost arm to this man after he risked exposing his identity to help them get and keep the arm under control. He uses compliments in his attempt to drive Lan Wangji away on Dafan Mountain. Wei Wuxian's respect for his to be partner is evident from the the instant we're introduced to him.
Moreover, in Lan Wangji's presence, Wei Wuxian forgets to pretend to be someone else. He is certain that Lan Wangji can handle whatever comes, and Lan Wangji reaffirms this throughout the novel. In Koi Tower, in Yi City, in Gusu, in Yunmeng--Lan Wangji never falters. He is fully aware of and prepared to survive the consequences of loving Wei Wuxian.
Sidenote: do you guys think this book will ever release my brain from its clutches? I'm starting to doubt it. I read a lot--I read today! But am I writing metas about Godkiller or the Apothecary Diaries right now? No. Because I miss these guys so damned much!!!
A weird little thing that is hard to understand about Wei Wuxian is that, in MDZS, he can, in fact, handle what life throws at him. Heās tough, heās smart, heās adaptable. He can handle it and continue forward, facing forward proudly and with a smile on his face.
He has a steady confidence about his abilities, about his own ability to handle the trials forced in front of him. And though he does brush aside and play off his own hurts, his own traumas, he is handling things.
His relationship with Lan Wangji is, in part, accepting that he doesnāt have to. Heās not a weak, fragile person (looking at CQLās complete overhaul of his character) but someone who can, in fact, weather whatever storms and trials the world and fate throws his way.
Thatās why during the tree scene, where he jumps out, he thinks itās okay if he falls and hurts himself. He can still pick himself up and move forward.
But if Lan Wangji catches him, isnāt it nice? Isnāt it nice to not have to pick himself up but instead be held by another? Isnāt that a nice thing to consider, that for all your strength you can trust another to catch you?
Does anyone else think Mei Nianqing was deeply in denial about Jun Wu taking part in the fall of Xian Le?
What? A mysterious figure who wears a mask, and a curse that causes resentful souls to appear as faces on the bodies of others?
That's familiar... Nah, That can't possibly have anything to do with the most traumatic period of my life, or the person who went insane, murdered the rest of my friends, and ended up with their fucking faces on his face. It has to be Xie Lian's fault.
Im sayingg omg. He recognized Jun Wu the moment he saw him again. Even before shit went to hell he said he was nervous about the interest the emperor had in Xie Lian, if he didn't already suspect foul play he wouldn't have checked the bodies of the dead "family" afterwards. This is what he was dreading yet he went to blame the prince instead of acknowledging what was right in front of him.
I think it's actually a very important distinction that Mianmian isnāt called a "servantās (家ä») daughter" by Jiang Cheng but a domestic slaveās (家儓) daughter, actually. I think words mean things, actually, and that Chinese isn't just a bunch of made-up ink splotches and sounds that we can "Interpret" any way we want to.
1) Yes Mianmian truly is a slave's daughter, Jiang Cheng isn't just insulting her.
2) There are actually other characters described as "domestic slaves" or the daughters of one in the story, too: Mo Xuanyu's mother (daughter) and Wang Lingjiao. Wang Lingjiao also calls Madam Yu's two servants "slaves" when admonishing them, to which Madam Yu corrects that they are servants and Wei Wuxian muses snarkily that a domestic slave is using the term to insult others like she isn't one, herself.
3) There seems to be a mistranslation from both exr and 7seas about how Wang Lingjiao became Wen Chao's mistress. Exr says that Wen Chao's wife sanctioned Wang Lingjiao becoming a mistress after seeing how beautiful she was, while 7seas corrects this to Wang Lingjiao exchanging (flirtatious) glances with Wen Chao before falling into bed with him, but then 7seas decides to add this line of "with the inadvertent aid from her mistress," which exists nowhere in the raws. I also can't find where the sentence, "Hardly a noteworthy name, and yet, thanks to its masters, one that could not be ignored" appears in any of version of my raws.
I overthought the Blackwater Arc, and now you can too!
I do not like the Blackwater Arc. I have been personally victimized by MXTX and I do not relish these chapters on reread.
But. I do think the arc is kind of brilliantly constructed, both as a parallel to the greater story and as a means of encouraging a specific mindset in readers as they head into the later arcs, most especially White Clothed Calamity arc.
Because let's face it ā a good revenge arc following all of the human face disease fuckery would feel insanely cathartic. I'd probably toss away all of the other themes of the series and root for Calamity Lian without too much nudging. Yeah, boy ā rain down those angry spirits! Fuck them kids.
Which, of course, is one reason why the narrative takes a massive detour first. Instead of pushing through the flashback in one go, we're forced back into the present and dragged through the Blackwater Arc kicking and screaming and crying for mercy. And while it's cruel and, some have argued, completely unnecessary to the larger story, I would counter that the events here are not just important to the story (it IS Xie Lian losing his only real ally in the heavens, and it IS Jun Wu continuing to purge heavenly officials he thinks are too powerful), but it's also forces you really reconsider how cathartic a revenge arc might actually be and is integral to really getting into the meat of what makes Xie Lian who he is. In this essay, I willā¦
Nah, fuck it. I'mma do the essay. Click the Read More!
MXTX loves to employ literary foils in her storytelling to really highlight who her characters are by showing you who they are not. And in the Blackwater Arc, we have He Xuan set up as the most obvious foil to Xie Lian. Just like Xie Lian at the end of the Fall of Xianle Arc, he's been stalked by a menacing creature, lost everyone close to him, and had his life destroyed. And he is going to fuck things up for the people responsible. YEAH! FUCK THEM KIDS!
Except, oh no, them kids includes Shi Qingxuan, who is the single most lovely lovely to ever lovely. Not only could she charm the ash off of Tonglu, he is the ONLY character who has shown unrestrained kindness to Xie Lian in the heaven realm. He's spoiled, but not rotten: he's vain, he coasts on his brother's status and merits, but she is also genuinely kind and has a strong sense of justice andā¦oh wait, this also sounds familiar.
So in addition to being treated to a foil in He Xuan, we're also treated to a parallel of 17-year-old Xie Lian in Shi Qingxuan. (Ooooh, shivers.) More on this later.
And with this set up, we get to watch everything go to hell.
He Xuan's continued existence revolves around vengeance ā he is literally the embodiment of vengeance at this point (and also a fun play on the concept of a "hungry ghost"). Throughout TGCF, resentment and vengeance are depicted as tangible things. Their most obvious role is to provide power to people who would use them, but they're also consuming. The resentful spirits that cause human face disease consume the people they infect. Lang Ying is consumed by his wife and son in exactly the same manner his vengeance devoured the people of Xianle. To a lesser extent, due to his > 9000 power level, so is Jun Wu. The price of Xie Lian stirring up the resentful spirits of Xianle is either to unleash them on the people Lang-er Bay or be consumed himself. As the embodiment of vengeance, He Xuan cannot stop consuming things; ghosts, monsters, food ā he is always eating. But it's never enough, and even once he has succeeded in his revenge, he is not sated, and importantly, he does not disperse. He shows up later and is still eating everything. He consumes, he is consumed, and even once he's reached his goal he is not fulfilled.
And that is a lovely cautionary tale, fit for audiences of all ages and across cultures, but what does it tell us about Xie Lian that we wouldn't otherwise know?
The important difference between He Xuan and Xie Lian is how they deal with their anger and grief. He Xuan very much externalizes everything ā he lashes out at the people causing his misery as he dies and continues plotting against Shi Wudu into his afterlife. Xie Lian is the opposite ā he is depressed and angry during much of the First Banishment Arc, but most of that is directed inward at himself. He needs to be better at earning money. He has to cultivate to get his status back. He, he, he. (This all vibes very well with his Daoist beliefs ā practitioners are exhorted not to put resentment/disharmony back out into the world where it will further upset the balance of things). It takes White No Face actively pushing him to become a Calamity ā it's not something he chooses free of influence, and that (in my humble opinion, anyway) is why he's able to find his way out of it in the end. And relatively easily, too! The bamboo hat man surely wasn't some paragon of virtue and kindness that lit the way back for him ā he was looking for a way back to himself and took the first path he saw.
(As an aside, these same behaviors are what set Hua Cheng and Banyue apart from the other wrath ghosts we meet. Their resentment is directed inward at their own failings, and in becoming wraths, they worked to correct those perceived failures. Xuan Ji blames Pei Ming for everything, and Qi Rongā¦well, he's Qi Rong and there is no known cure.)
So we have two characters here with somewhat similar stories making drastically different choices in the end. There are some major differences, as well, though. He Xuan was a scholar, where Xia Lian was a prince and a Daoist cultivator. Their lives moved along entirely different paths, and it's hardly fair to expect an average person to react the same way as someone who is steeped in ideology that insists on non-violence and purity.
But you know who has a story even more similar to Xie Lian AND uses those same cultivation methods? Jun Fucking Wu. They both begin as princes with strong moral precepts, they both want to save their people, but fall short and are dragged through muck and mire by those same people. They learn from the same guoshi. Their stories are so similar, Xie Lian even begins to think he must have some sort of relationship based on the murals of Wuyong. And yet. AND YET, in the face of the backlash from his people, Jun Wu chooses vengeance, just like Joe Average He Xuan.
Their backstories have nothing to do with their choices, other than giving each the opportunity to make them.
When Hua Cheng tells Mei Nianqing "They're nothing alike," in regards to Xie Lian and Jun Wu, this is part of what he's talking about. Mei Nianqing sees them as similar because their lives have followed the same trajectories, and they've cultivated the same path. But that isn't what makes someone ā it might shape some of their beliefs, but it doesn't dictate their responses. They have to be the ones to choose what to do with their anger, their grief, and Jun Wu chooses to explode outward with his blame in spectacular fashion. He tosses his advisors in a volcano and goes on a god-hunting spree. Classic.
(And I do think it's important to frame these as choices, as well. TGCF is very heavy on the theme of choice, so reading it as something like "Well, Xie Lian is just innately a good person while Jun Wu was born a bag of salted dicks!" would diminish that agency. We're talking about something the characters have actively participated in making themselves into.)
The final foil piece for our palace (for those of you keeping count) is Shi Qingxuan. He's had a few rough patches in his younger years, but mostly lives a very comfortable life, thanks to the protection of his brother. His backstory has nothing on the angst-filled melodrama that most of the characters have waded through. He's spoiled and vain and kinda flighty ā he's almost the kind of character you'd expect to have a tantrum when the rug is pulled out from under him and lash out at the world. Almost. Because despite having a drastically different history to Xie Lian, he is also genuinely kind and good-hearted, and makes choices based accordingly, even when others look down on him for it. And so when he loses everything, he reacts very much the same way: he turns inwards and decides to go learn how to live an unsheltered life. It's not exactly a happy ending, but it's also not really an ending, and he is cheerful enough about it.
And there you have it: of the 4 characters that Didn't Deserve It, 2 chose to make it everyone else's problem, and 2 chose to roll with the punches and move forward. The Blackwater Arc, traumatizing though it may be, really provides as opportunity to highlight not only the similarities, but the differences between these characters, and in turn shows that nothing about their choices is inevitable based on their past. You can't traumatize someone into committing vengeance, that is something THEY must choose.
Although if you are Jun Wu, and wake up each day to choose to be a bag of salted dicks violence, I guess you can try.
look, i think an au were JC finds out abt A-Yuan before WWX's resurrection.
like whether it's before or after the burial mound siege it could be sooooo goooood and angsty him knowing WWX had a fucking son.
and there are so many good directions you could take this in!!
like i think him lowkey having a custody battle w/ LWJ would be the most interesting to me specifically just cuz i am an enjoyer of cannon divergence/what if?s. but it could also work cannon compliant of him just feeling SO emotional abt orphaning this kid. or if want EVEN MORE angst him think he killed WWX's son. like he finds a (essentially suicide) note in the demon quelling cave saying smth like "look ik u hate me, but can u please not extend that grudge to A-Yuan and take him in as a Jiang disciple, he's like a son and i want him to grow up happy" but LWJ has already snatched the kid and so JC thinks he died in the siege and the guilt he would feel added on to what he is already feeling like aaaauuuuugh.
I'm honestly kinda running w/ this one rn just cuz my brain keeps fucking braining but like imagine JC making A-Yuan a memorial bcuz Complicated Emotions and WWX finding it (extra angst if its mid cannon) and just fucking BREAKING DOWN cuz thats his son!!!!! and then like thanking JC becuz he sees that there are some (somewhat) recent incents. bonus if he uses the A-Yuan tablet as like a stand in for when he would have gone to WWX's. bonus bonus if he ends up keeping Chenqing by it after noticing all the teething marks.
Uhh, except jc absolutely did know about a-yuan and he didn't give a fuck? He literally saw the kid when he went to the burial mounds and he still told wwx he should give the wens back to the jin, who would have killed them all.. a-yuan included...
Only reason people degrade Hua Cheng as a stalker is because like Mu Qing and Feng Xin they can't comprehend that Xie Lian can inspire that kind of devotion in a person. They don't ever treat Xie Lian as a competent, compassionate or smart man, they do see him as lesser and constantly condescend who he is as well as his own agency due to this.
So because they see him as lesser, there has to be something wrong with him mentally to accept Hua Cheng's devotion, religiously, sexually and romantically. They see Xie Lian as a failure and too incompetent to ever be adored, because all they can see is his failures. Hua Cheng is the only one to comfort Xie Lian despite supposed failures and still adores and uplifts him as Xie Lian did to for him.
To condescend the relationship between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian as something freaky, stalkerish and creepy is insulting and jaded. That says way more about you than how this beautiful relationship preserved when fandom has Mu Qing's and Feng Xin's degrading it and acting like know it alls to misrepresent it. Insulting and embarrassing to downplay Hua Cheng's entire character as a creepy stalker based on biased words from the two characters that did treat him as subhuman and treat Xie Lian as a stupid doll they need to teach.
So obviously I spend a lot of time thinking about lan wangji hearing wangxian and knowing that wei wuxian is back.
BUT! imagine how he must have felt when jiang cheng hit wei wuxian with zidian. imagine! you've spent 13 years mourning the love of your life. raising his son as your own. scars on your chest and back that will forever remind you of what you've lost. and then he comes back. it's an unfamiliar body but you know that it's him. you can keep him safe this time.
and then his asshole brother who you HATE hits your love with the exorcism whip and for a second, you think you've lost him again. your second chance, vanished as soon as you found it.
and then he's fine! your lost love is still there, being his annoying self, flirting with you. probably just to piss his brother off but he says you're his type. this all happens within like five minutes. emotional rollercoaster of all time.
Oh my god never thought about that. I believe wwx acting like a gay lunatic (which he is) around lan zhan prolly solidified his belief that he is indeed wei wuxian even if the zidian did not show any difference.
yeah, I think hearing wangxian was enough to convince him regardless, but i love the idea of lan wangji being like "this has to be the man I love returned from the dead. no one else is this annoying <3"
If princelian's kindness was because of privilege then he would've stopped being kind once he was thrown into poverty. Instead we see a scene of him using the meager money he had to buy lanterns and free ghost fires, even if it would make his life difficult. We see also forfeiting a bet with the other buskers so the other man wouldn't hurt himself trying to win, even if that cost them the spot. This is because he's a good person. His ideals only wavered specifically after being horrifically tortured by Bai Wuxiang in a way that targeted his philosophy and even after that terror he still stood true to himself in the end.
