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This Seonghwa deserved a post of his own

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Presumably everyone knows that I am not patient. thank you @wangxianbunnydoodles for helping with the translation clean up

#hurhur one of my fav scenes #the countdown was so HOT #wwx pls #mdzs

hunxi-guilai

today’s freeze frame bonus of CQL is the fact that Lan Wangji was apparently reading the godDAMN《易经》 Yijing / Classic of Changes in the library while Wei Wuxian was copying his lines

like

SIR–

hunxi-guilai

okay so those of you who aren’t familiar with the 《易经》 Yijing / Classic of Changes, you might know it by its more commonly-seen Westernized name, the I Ching. Yep. That one.

Which is to say, Lan Wangji is reading a divination manual in the library. And when I say manual, I really do mean manual – the 《易经》 Yijing is like, a glorified catalog of the 64 hexagrams, in which each entry is written in abstruse and metaphorical language like:

䷀乾:

初九：潛龍，勿用。

Qian: In the first (or lowest) NINE, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon lying hid (in the deep). It is not the time for active doing.

(trans. James Legge)

The thing about manuals is that they’re not really written for light reading; the《易经》 in particular is written as an interpretative aid to your prophetic stick-throwing. You’d toss your yarrow sticks in the air; you’d deduce the corresponding hexagram; you’d flip open the 《易经》 to the appropriate hexagram and read the textual interpretation thereof.

What I’m trying to say is that Lan Wangji is like, reading a dictionary, or an encyclopedia. Lan Wangji you have the entire Gusu Lan library at your disposal, why

hunxi-guilai

okay okay now that I’ve cooled down a little (only a little, mind you) let me take the liberty of interpreting this capital-C Lan Wangji Choice:

interpretation #1: despite the fact that the 《易经》is a notoriously impenetrable text to study (my thesis advisor once called it “adult philosophy,” as opposed to the other schools of thought, which I can only assume are “middle grade philosophy” or at best “YA philosophy”), it became pretty influential in later dynasties as a text on cosmology. Countless scholars poured hours into poring over its text and wording, teasing out cosmological implications of various hexagrams. Listen. Pre-modern life was scary, unpredictable, and deadly. A scholarly obsession with figuring out how the world works completely checks out.

Another group of scholars got into the weeds of the moral implications of the work (how, I have no idea); good ol’ Kongzi himself (fine, “Confucius”) is quoted in the 《论语》Lunyu / The Analects, saying:

子曰：「加我數年，五十以學易，可以無大過矣。」

The Master said: If years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi[jing], and through this, be free from great error.

《论语·述而》/ The Analects, “Shu’er”

Which is to say, there is a long and illustrious line of scholarship on the 《易经》as a text beyond a literal manual, so like, Lan Wangji is precocious or whatever

interpretation #2: Lan Wangji has consulted the divinatory yarrow stalks about a Life Question he has. He is currently trying to decode and interpret the answer he received. Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian seems hellbent on distracting him in the pursuit of this very important answer

wow, Lan Wangji, I wonder what question you asked the yarrow stalks–

#mdzs