Just another tumblr page rambling about various fandoms from anime to TV shows / dramas to movies. I write fics and ramble mostly and pretend whatever I'm currently obsessed with has a meaning deeper than life itself.
Adventure Behind the Bronze Door last 3 eps must watch - Zhang family secrets explained, Xiaoge's history revealed, and iconic and new Pingxie moments
I've come to realize this series, despite not taking place with actual realtime Wu Xie x Xiaoge interactions, is probably the most relationship deep iteration of all the various DMBJ series. Also the most informative. The last 3 episodes are jam-packed with answers and iconic pingxie moments (INCLUDING XG COMING OUT OF THE GATE), that I'd recommend folks not wanting to watch the whole series to at least watch those.
Not only did they try to fill in (or at least provide an alternate explanation to) a lot of the plot gaps / explanations that the books didn't officially tackle (e.g. the last half of Tibetan Sea Flower, what happened with the Nine Clans and Xiaoge's pact around the Bronze Door), it also really does lay out all of Wu Xie's emotions around Xiaoge and lays out his transformation away from the innocent WX to the WX willing to do whatever for XG.
Answers provided:
Zhang family history
What's the reason behind XG's memory loss
XG's personal history
What's the deal with protecting the Bronze Gate and why was WX up next
And iconic Pingxie scenes:
XG revealing WX he doesn't understand his connection to the world and wondering if he even exists and WX reassuring him he'd notice if he's gone (also in Ultimate Note)
XG getting rescued by WX and PZ in the Zhang Ancestral Family Mansion
XG saying goodbye to WX before going up to Bronze Gate and stating how his only connection to the world is WX (book only)
WX following him up to the gate and getting knocked out after XG explains he's doing this for him (book only)
ALSO WX and PZ going to pick XG up from the Bronze Gate
And scenes from their Yucun retirement (including XG wrongfully killing the neighbor's chicken LMAO)!
Did they take some liberties in shamelessly catering to the fanservice? Yes. But I'm not mad.
I'm not really sure how they came up with the gap filling explanations, if these were in the extended notes / NPSS himself or something equivalent to fanfiction, but I think it works well enough. Even if they already changed stuff from canon. At this point, I don't think the entirety of canon can ever be consistent with itself anyway, so taking some liberties to fill in the gaps is probably necessary. It does get a little too exposition-like at times... but I kinda appreciate it too.
Ok I always knew Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (i.e. Tibetan Sea Flower) would be like... a deep dive into ZQL's past + a highlight of Wu Xie's obsession with Xiaoge but... even I underestimated just how far the drama team would take it hahahaha.
I held off on it because there's no direct Pingxie interactions, and because while Edward Zhang makes for a pretty on point Wu Xie, he's a bit old for this iteration of Wu Xie. Still... this series has impressed.
FYI the drama deviates from the book (quite heavily; the Zhang siblings are almost totally different characters), which is only half complete and abandoned, so they had to. But like... I'm only halfway through this drama and we already have:
Wu Xie declaring he has to do something for Xiaoge
Wu Xie scolding the Zhang family for their treatment of Xiaoge
Wu Xie being all sad and moody near Xiaoge's statue
Wu Xie legit being knowingly baited into full on Danger Zone on the off chance that he might disappoint Xiaoge
Wu Xie being simultaneously self-deprecating and self-important in regards to what esteem Xiaoge holds him in (a la his 'assigned task')
Others being jealous baffled by said esteem and why ZQL would have entrusted Wu Xie of all people
Others acknowledging Wu Xie being ZQL's trusted person
Others thinking of taking revenge on ZQL through harming Wu Xie
Others directly asking WX if ZQL would be sad if he died and WX being all self-deprecating like 'idk if he'll even remember me'
ICONIC MAIN STORY PINGXIE SCENES like the infamous 'my only connection is you', mountain scenes, AND the rescue of Xiaoge at Zhang Ancestral Family Mansion (WTF I did not expect this!)
And I'm only halfway through. While my memory kinda sucks and I read Tibetan Sea Flower a while back... I'm pretty sure the drama inserted a lot of these... moments. So it might cover the span of time where Pingxie is literally apart... but holy crap is this not basically a pingxie saga still (feels more like a fanfic than adherent to canon but... canon also abandoned itself so eh).
I just finished watching Time Raider (ĺ´éŞç§ĺŽśçŹčŽ°) and omg wow is this reboot amazing! Although I think each iteration of cast does a wonderful job, the screenwriting has absolutely not been of equal quality.
And we finally get a version of DMBJ that's probably closer to the novel descriptions, higher quality, and includes some clues and references that foreshadow and connect with future plot holes points more properly.
I'm so excited to see the future seasons... hopefully this cast will stay with us for some time yet!
But anyway, idk if perhaps it's because my Chinese is better now, or I was just super slow the first time around watching / reading DMBJ... but there's a couple of jokes (and probably more) that can't be explained unless you understand Chinese, so I'm sharing just for fun (other literate natives, please overlook how obvious these jokes might be lol
Wang Pangzi's name - Ok I really was just stupidly slow on this one but... his supposed actual name (Wang Yueban) is written like this çćĺ. His nickname of 'fatty' or Pangzi, is written like this čĺ. Literally, his nickname is his name collapsed! ćĺ = č. Ha. Natives, please overlook how stupid this realization is.
When Wu Xie applies 'lotion' (i.e. his saliva) to Pangzi's back to stop his itching and jokes it's 'export grade'. Y'all, this is because 'export' is literally written as ĺşĺŁ or 'exit mouth'. Of course, in context of export it means exiting port (mouth). But here, Wu Xie is joking it's export because it's literally export... of his mouth lmao. He literally told Pangzi it came out of his mouth.
Ok I stumbled upon this beautiful, currently airing donghua (Chinese animation) and it's giving such BL vibes (but doesn't seem to be official BL) and I had to share. Mysterious shop keeper x clueless doctor? Shared past lives? Guardian spirit / contract? Sign me up!
The artwork is gorgeous, the episodic short stories oriented around the antiques of the shop melancholic and sweet... can't wait for it to be done airing so I can binge it.
Sharing some more Qiubing fic recs from Lofter! Remember, these fics are written in Chinese, and so if you want to read them, you'll have to suffer some terrible MTL (or be able to read Chinese). Note: Iâve found that Safariâs built in translation seems to fare better than Google, as the names are least translated properly. I havenât played around with other translators.
This round is focused on some of the (many) 'what if?' themed rewrites, which I'm currently obsessed with (in case you missed my first rec). Most of these involve rebirth / time-travel / consciousness returning to a previous part of the timeline. (Reborn here means to have been reborn into an earlier time.)
Note: Lofter is similar to Tumblr, and authors post chapters in individual blog posts. To find later chapters of the same work, just navigate to the author's page and search through blog titles with the same title (usually they'll number it somehow). Also, these titles tend to be more descriptive like a prompt rather than function like AO3 poetic titles.
Disclaimer: Crappy title translations and rough synopsis are mine... don't judge too hard đ¤Ł). These synopsis notes are more for me to remember what the story is about... Also, my criteria for good Chinese fics is simply not being too OOC, and NO easter egg BS (i.e. the author basically tries to make money off of their fic by hiding majority of the story behind a paywall). My Chinese is too crappy to pick out good prose vs. bad prose haha.
ç ĺźąçŤçŤďźćźćĺ¨çşż-ććŻď˝çťć
Title TL: Sickly kitty, acting mode is on (WIP)
(AKA: What if Li Bing had returned to Shendu after those three years still sickly and with white hair, if he never entered Dalisi, but knew a lot of things?)
Synopsis notes: Mostly a canon rewrite, but with a LB who has white hair and prone to illness. LB still ends up involved in all the cases, but there's slightly less animosity between our favorite pair and more of QQZ trying to look after LB.
Title TL: Reborn before any tragedy occurs; this time we must have satisfaction (WIP)
(AKA: What if Li Bing's consciousness returns to a time when no tragedy had yet occurred?)
Synopsis notes: LB returns back to before their country started the war, before his father died, and before he parted with QQZ. He implores his father and QQZ to investigate the suspicious nature of the war, and thus they embark on more investigations. Features a stubborn LB, protective but indulgent QQZ, LB crossdressing as a woman because Wang Qi isn't there, redeemed Chen Jiu...
ĺĺŚéąĺ°ĺćťĺďźć鼟éçäşâ -ç˝é
Title TL: What if after General Qiu died, Li Bing was reborn? (COMPLETE)
(AKA: What if LB returns to when he first took up his post as the Vice Minister of Dalisi?)
Synopsis notes: LB returns to when he first returned to Shendu and took on the Vice Minister post. Features a calm and shameless tease LB and a QQZ trying his best to remain unaffected and maintain a charade. LB keeps sneaking into QQZ's room in the middle of the night...
Title TL: If you eat (my) Li family's bing (cake), then you become my (Li Bing's) person (WIP)
(AKA: What if QQZ's consciousness returns to when he first met LB?)
Synopsis notes: QQZ returns to when he first met LB and tries to cue him into the conspiracy earlier and prevent all tragedies from happening. Features QQZ centric POV, which is a fresh take! Of course, doting and indulgent QQZ as always...
Title TL: A reborn Li Bing will definitely force Qiu Qingzhi to spill the beans (COMPLETE)
(AKA: What if LB was reborn to three years prior as QQZ returns from war and manages to force him to speak the truth instead of avoiding him?)
Synopsis notes: LB returns to when QQZ just returned from war and stubbornly refuses to let the guy ghost him. Featuring an alive and doting papa Li, sickly and fragile LB (no cat form), doting / protective / occasionally teasing QQZ, Yi Zhihua becoming bffs with LB (much to QQZ's chagrin), and everyone is happy.
Just wanted to share a wonderful Qiubing fic I came across on the Chinese sites that scratched some of the canon-ending-upset itch. đĽ°
I have no idea what everyone's appetite is for reading machine translated fanfics (and unfortunately, Google likes to translate Li Bing's name into 'Li Cake' đ¤Ł)... but if people are interested, I might share some of the fics I come across. (Personally, I have a very low tolerance for MTL fics and never read them... but the English fandom for Qiubing is still too small, and I'm already trudging through the Lofter pages in search of content anyway... so I figured I might as well share what I find haha.)
Fortunately, while searching on Lofter requires an account, accessing the individual blog pages do not. So you shouldn't have to deal with tedious account creation should you choose to read some fic. You just have to deal with crappy MTL.
About this fic I'm sharing though:
Title (It's a saying, which, via my crappy translation, equates roughly to): "To wish you a long life"
Notes (my own): A sort of what-if fix-it fic, in which Li Bing spiritually(?) travels repeatedly to an altered timeline in which his father did not die that fateful night. Cue themes of sickly!Li Bing (per his canon younger self), a doting Qiu Qingzhi, Li Bing desperately trying to change the 'past' so Qiu Qingzhi doesn't die... it's sweet.
So yes, if people are interested / don't think the MTL is too horrific, let me know and I'll share more! Or I'll share them anyway as a way to archive my own reading notes because I don't trust Lofter to maintain account access predictably.
Hello, can I ask if you know where to watch KOD with English subtitles? I've been looking everywhere but can only find the first episode đĽ
Hey! I think there's only the MTL ones so far if we're talking about *all* of the episodes... You can check out the Discussions section and also Comments section of the MDL page. People have shared links there.
I understand Mandarin so I watched all of it without subs.
Ruan Nanzhu being shamelessly possessive over Ling Jiushi (The Spirealm / Kaleidoscope of Death)
Just throwing together some fun moments (nothing too spoiler-y) from the episodes I've watched thus far! Jealous and pouty RNZ is the best lol. He's got a wealth of tools at his disposal that's he's unashamed to employ to monopolize LJS.
Ep. 10 - RNZ invoking Confucianism to prevent his boi from sleeping away from him đ¤Ł
Ep. 16 - RNZ performing 'sa jiao' or acting 'moe' to reclaim his boi's attention
Ep. 22 - RNZ invoking 'professionalism' to block any attempts to get close to his boi
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Please pardon my low quality gifs and crappy sub overlay lol. I don't blog gifs that often... just wanted to share some fun moments in advance since I know the subs are going to take a bit to come out!
Olivarry Fic Search: fandom geek Barry explains fandom and their ship to Oliver?
Yâall, I havenât been in this fandom in years. But the other day, I was going through my Google drive graveyard of fics that never saw the light of day, and to my surprise, Iâd started an Olivarry fic. Clearly, I wanted to read this very tropey fic, which is why I attempted to write it but got nowhere. So, Iâm now asking kind strangers in the fandom... is there such a fic along these lines?
Hereâs a short snippet Iâd written to give you the vibe (And yes, Iâm shamelessly just sharing my writing in hopes of finding the fic I desire to read. Or... you know. If it doesnât exist... and someone wants to take it on...):
âDid you knowâŚâ Cisco started off slowly, drawing out the question with no small measure of unadulterated glee, ââŚthat you two have fanfiction written about you?â He grinned at them with eyebrows arched in his typical, âholy shit I cannot believe this is happeningâ manner.
âIâŚwhat?â Barry managed, face paling because of course he of all people knew what fanfiction was. He also knew that Oliver, of all people, probably wouldnât.
âWellâokay, itâs not about you two per se, like⌠you know, Barry Allen and Oliver Queen, but about Flash and Arrow, who are essentially you two,â Cisco quickly amended.
Oliver, who had been quietly watching the proceedings with a frown, finally chimed in with, âWhatâs fanfiction?â
Plot points / additional notes:
Barry is a bit of a fandom geek, and now has to explain to Oliver what shipping, feels, OTPs, etc.
Cisco scores points within the fandom with solid âheadcannonsâ
Barry going full geek and pointing out issues like a fan (e.g. debating their ship name âFloodâ or âHashâ for Flash x Hood and of course both are equally terrible in his opinion, thank god for rebrandings cuz Flarrow sounds way cooler) and Oliver kind of looking at Barry like âwhy the hell do you know all this, who are you, what have you done with my bfâ
Barry really wants them to go to Comic ConâŚ. And not just as attendees, but as Flash and Arrow. You know⌠for reasons.
Star Struck - Explaining the conflict and cultural nuance
Those of you who have seen the Korean BL, Star Struck, probably thought it was a(nother) mediocre school BL. In a year with more and more BLs from South Korea (yay!), it might have been an easy pass.
BUT, if youâre like me, you will have really, really appreciated the refreshingly realistic taste of a friends-to-lovers dynamic, complete with a conflict that is not just over one-sided or mutual dislike of each other for once! (Which is not to say I didnât love the BLs that had that... theyâre all great. But I do think expanding scope is always admirable!)
I realized that part of the reason why what seemed to me a rather thoughtfully constructed set of characters and plot development comes across as plain boring to many others might partially be a cultural nuance issue.
So, hereâs my attempt to bridge that gap and give it a little more credit than it got (at least, so far). Of course, thatâs not to say I think this drama is perfect... I do think a lot of pacing / editing could have done with some improvement. And at the end of the day... it is a coming of age sort of school drama, so itâs not going to be crazy complex. And Iâm also writing this after episode 4, so there will be spoilers through episode 4.Â
Disclaimer: I am not Korean, nor did I grow up in South Korea, so I definitely do not have complete authority on this subject matter. However, I feel like a lot of what was happening in Star Struck might have been... unfairly overlooked or otherwise not understood by audiences who are less familiar with Eastern Asian cultural values, so as a Chinese American, I wanted to do my best to add a bit of perspective.
So. What is the root of SHJ (Seo Hanjoo) and JYJ (Jo Yoojae)âs conflict?
Certainly, SHJâs (seemingly) one-sided crush on JYJ and JYJâs reactive jealousy is a large part of it, but the other big part is a newfound wealth gap and how that translates into what esteem they hold each other in.
From the get-go, we can tell SHJ is very (self-)conscious about money. He knows how hard his mom has to work, and he feels guilty and early on already tries to justify to himself (and others) that some costs, like the cram school he saved up to attend, are not worth it. Heâs too prideful to honestly mention his money troubles to anyone.
Although SHJ doesnât know JYJâs rich yet in this scene, JYJâs financial circumstances still was better off than SHJâs. But heâs clearly uncomfortable with the idea of his best friend paying for him like that. And hereâs where Iâll do some cultural breakdown.
In East Asian culture, the collective identity comes first, and the individual comes second. Meaning, people take more pride in what school they graduated from, what company they work for, what their family background is, more so than people in many other cultures. Iâm not talking school pride like, âIâm proud to be a <insert school mascot>!â kind of spirit. I mean that everyone in your life, in society, will measure your worth first and foremost (and often only) by the primary institution or family background you came out of. And with SHJâs sort of background - poor, single-mother - thatâs a big stigma. Heâs still a rational human being though, so at least he doesnât blame his poor mother for their circumstance (which some kids do, given all the pressure of society). But that all said, this clearly weighs on him - how his lack of money reflects on him. And if money is viewed at all similarly to how itâs viewed in China... itâs basically a measure of your capabilities and standing in society. The inability to be generous with your money is âlosing faceâ i.e. embarrassing. And so... yeah. Itâs a lot of âdingsâ in SHJâs social profile. The kid is understandably a bit self-conscious, though he clearly tries to not let it get to him.
Fast forward to when he finds out JYJ is now ârichâ... Obviously, heâs upset at not being told because theyâre supposed to be close friends. However, heâs clearly super self-conscious about being seen as someone whoâs that sensitive about money. Notice how he hasnât actually commented / asked about JYJ âmoving outâ. (Note: I wasnât 100% sure if this carried the implication that JYJ might be moving away, but the text message made it sound like that? Correct me if Iâm wrong.) He immediately assumes JYJ didnât tell him because heâs pitying him or otherwise worried about how heâd react because of how it involves money. And he hates that. (Which... heâs not totally wrong about. JYJ might not pity him like how SHJ is thinking, but he definitely worries a bit about how SHJ will perceive things, and it becomes this death spiral of misread intentions.)
And of course JYJ starts to comment on SHJâs family, which just confirms all of JYJâs worst fears. He suddenly ârealizesâ that his best friend who he has a crush on actually walks on eggshells around him because of his money situation, which is a blow to his self-esteem, because what does that mean? That thereâs a meaningful gap now in their social status and JYJ looks down on him and just never said? That JYJ sees SHJ as too delicate to be able to handle this new reality? (His insecurities and perspectives, not necessarily what JYJ thinks, of course.)Â
Itâs like having a close friend say something that makes you suddenly wonder if they were actually judging you this whole time, and your mind goes into overdrive analyzing every past interaction youâve had and reading in between the lines to see if you were actually blind all this time. To SHJ, who is already a bit self-conscious about all of this... itâs a major blow. And although he says heâs only ever felt inconvenienced by his poverty... Iâd say heâs being a bit dishonest with himself. Again, heâs clearly not the shameful type to blame his poor mother, but he clearly has trouble admitting his circumstances to even his closest friend.
Meanwhile, for JYJ...
...the guy is clearly struggling too. He obviously cares for SHJ and extremely mindful of his money situation, hence previously wanting to just pay for SHJ at the cafe. However, he also doesnât want to hurt SHJâs pride even more, so he ultimately still tosses his pair of perfectly good shoes he no longer wants despite wanting to give it to SHJ.
Once SHJ cools down a bit, and JYJ extends the olive branch, they both apologize to each other and come to an understanding. However, as is with a lot of human emotions... getting over it in the moment does not necessarily mean getting over it for good if you havenât addressed the inner demons that spawned these bad feelings in the first place. And itâs not long before we see another issue pop up.
At this point, SHJ has had to move into the side house (and hides it from JYJ). He finds the Gucci receipt in the pocket of the jacket JYJ lends him, and JYJ immediately tries to wave it off saying it was pretty much something his mom made him buy.
Heâs clearly worried about SHJ feeling bad again. He definitely doesnât seem to care for the materialistic things as much as his parents seem to, and he even seems a bit embarrassed by it. So when SHJ brings up his big new house, he immediately tries to make light of the situation by joking about how indeed, the one good perk is that he can no longer hear his parents fighting. So thatâs clearly another thing that weighs on him. SHJ is seemingly rather sensitive to JYJâs money situation, but JYJ doesnât really want anything to do with it at all. And the thing he really wishes could be new and shiny - his familyâs relationship - is not something their newfound money could buy. In fact, itâs possible heâs even a little envious of JYJ for having such a caring mom.
Later, when he finds out SHJ has moved into the little side house / shack, heâs understandably upset that his best friend had chosen to hide this from him, that he didnât see JYJ as understanding enough to be honest with him. He obviously also aches for SHJâs circumstances.Â
Gift-giving is a big part of East Asian culture, but thereâs casual gifts between friends, and thereâs gifts between everyone else. When youâre gifting gifts to someone less close, you definitely donât want to go for things too cheap, so people tend to skew for expensive and unnecessary things because itâs part of social gestures and having âfaceâ. While well-intentioned, sometimes receiving (and continuing to receive) gifts, especially more expensive ones, can make the receiver feel like they have to reciprocate in kind and continue to stand on ceremony or otherwise have this formal distance between the other person. Itâs a big game of chicken sometimes, but some peopleâs âfaceâ wonât allow them to take a more casual, intimate approach first. This is not the main reason why JYJ gets upset of course, but it is an element.
All that compounded - heâs hurting already on SHJâs behalf, yet his best friend seemingly doesnât trust him enough and still tries to save face. And whatâs worse, SHJ seems to think JYJ is materialistic and chases expensive things, when that couldnât be farther from the truth - he dgafs about this kind of stuff. So to have his best friend essentially woefully misunderstand his character, continue to hold him at armâs length / treat him with non-intimate courtesy, make sacrifices that hurt himself to give JYJ something that makes him seem materialistic and puts even more distance between them due to their economic gap... heâs pretty hurt and furious.
Of course, in reality, while SHJ not telling JYJ might be partly due to his pride, the expensive gift was purely because he was crushing hard. And cue the confession tumbling out.
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So actually, I feel like there was a wonderful build-up of their tension, oriented not entirely on SHJâs romantic feelings towards JYJ, but a very real issue between two people compounded by the complexity of romantic feelings.
Although I grew up away from the frontline influence of these sort of social gestures and expectations, it was still a big part of my upbringing. And I feel the agonizing indecisiveness over what to say, how to react, etc. You read intention into every gesture and word, because thatâs how Asian culture operations.
I was rather surprised to see people comment that this drama was boring, but upon analysis, I did consider that part of it might be because a lot of this tension goes over the audienceâs head if you werenât brought up in that context. What seems like beautifully nuanced dance of well-intentions-turned-sour might come across as a jumbled mess of âbeing upset over unnecessary secretsâ. That, coupled with some abrupt scenes that might not be tied in too smoothly, might have led to a lower evaluation.
Or itâs just my bias for a non-romantic-feelings based tension haha.
Ok, definitely quite random, but I just wanted to take a moment to applaud the Chinese ship name for Lan Jue x Wang Yan from A League of Nobleman. Iâm actually unsure if thereâs been a good ship name for these two in English (nothing seemed to pop out at me?), but the Chinese fandom seems to have settled onÂ ĺ °ç çĽĺˇą, which is perfect because:
ĺ ° =Â âLanâ in Lan Jue
ç =Â âYanâ in Wang Yan
çĽĺˇą = âZhijiâ, which is confidante / soulmate (not necessarily in the romantic sense, but bromance / BL has opted to make it a Thing, and Iâve decided to roll with it)
And, thereâs a similar sounding Chinese phrase âčé˘çĽĺˇąâ (in fact, only the second word has a different intonation from the ship name) which specifically refers to the male confidante of a woman (the âlan yanâ here means âblueâ, or more specifically, âblue colorâ).Â
And to add more fun, a common follow up / associated joke or saying is that âblue blue often turns greenâ, where the color green (and more specifically, wearing a green hat), means youâve been cuckolded. That is to imply, of course, that any close male friend of a woman will likely always become a romantic interest. (Personally, I think thatâs BS, but anyway thatâs the saying / joke.)
So then coming back to this ship name, it was just *chefâs kiss*. Like, other ship names are often sayings or phrases as well, but not quite so well mapped multi-dimensionally.
P.S: Iâve opted to not tag this post with that tag, since I assume folks using that tag would already be aware of this and not impressed by my realization đ¤Ł
Bonus: If you want to search for Lan Jue x Wang Yan content... searching this tag on bilibili gives you all the fun fanvids.
Pretext:Â I love languages, especially the way they get influenced and shaped by the culture theyâre born from. For example, the Inuits have 40-50 different words for snow, because they live in an environment with lots of snow! Snow is important to them as itâs such a strong presence in their day to day lives. You wonât find the same words mapped to English since the historically English speaking regions were less snowy.
Similarly, thereâs a lot of Chinese terms that donât have a parallel in the English language because the environment and society emphasize different things. If you watch cdramas, Iâm sure youâve come across them before. Although, whether or not it registered might depend a lot on the translation qualities. Hereâs one Iâve thought about quite a bit:
čżç´Ż (lian lei) - To implicate, to involve someone else, to drag them into trouble with you would be a rough translation, but none of these fully captures the sentiment of this term.Â
This is an action, so youâd use it like âI (lian lei)âd youâ. While âimplicateâ is a singular word I used to translate, itâs missing out on so much. It doesnât carry the same weight of guilt / accusation, nor does it capture the nuance that it was the association (as opposed to necessarily active involvement) that brought trouble in the end. The individual words that compose this areÂ čż which means âconnectâ and 累 which means âtired / strainâ.Â
When I hear a phrase like âI (lian lei)âd youâ, itâs full of guilt, apology, and regret over, not so much the 'guiltyâ action, but more over the fact that the other person was unfairly involved due to their association. You agonize over having accepted their kindness or friendship, and / or over not being capable enough to prevent your burden from having to be shared by them. The closest phrase I feel can compare is something like âI didnât mean to involve youâ, but it would have to be buffered by a lot of good prose. And conversely, itâs quite accusatory if youâre saying âYou (lian lei)âd himâ. Youâre accusing them of being inconsiderate, naive, selfish, or all of the above.
And honestly, this sort of term only truly makes sense in Eastern / collectivist cultures, where your identity is first and foremost not of you as the individual, but your relation to the society. In Western cultures, people might think it unthinkable to punish family of someone for what someone did. But in Chinese culture, this was extremely prevalent. Even today, it persists in more nuanced ways. Responsibility means something different in Eastern vs. Western cultures, and this term reflects that.
First, you very likely have no idea who Iâm talking about. Ghostman, as Wu Xie dubs him â鏟役â, is a character that shows up in Volume 8 (the last volume, and in drama-speak it means the events right after Ultimate Note) briefly to impart a lot of insightful explanations on Wu Xie (and we the audience).Â
This does mean this will be a lot of spoilers then and quite lengthy. Iâll usually tag these with posts spoilers, but Iâm using a cut this time too.
When does he first appear?
So technically, heâs made an âappearanceâ earlier, as the mysterious figure stalking them around Banai, and the person who tried to steal the box containing the iron block from Xiaoge when they first visited his former residence.
Although described as âcollapsedâ or âslopedâ shoulders, this should not be confused with the âcollapsed shoulderedâ figure standing behind a screen Wu Xie saw in the old photograph that led them to Banai in the first place (that was later unveiled to be an iron figurine (Vol 6, Ch. 35)). (However, there does seem to be another mention of the photo that may contradict this... so idk. Itâs all Wu Xie hypothesizing anyway.)Â
What does he look like?
From Wu Xieâs description in the novel:
His whole body was like a mass of wax that had quickly melted at first. All the skin was mottled with holes, but the melting process seemed to have stopped abruptly. His shoulders were practically nonexistent, his hands hung on both sides of his body, and all the flesh and skin on his shoulders were wrapped around his body. I could even see the joints through the thin skin covering his shoulder bones. His whole face had been melted and his hair was so long and unkempt that it was practically knotted together.
When and why does he approach Wu Xie?
He approaches Wu Xie (and Pangzi technically) as they are about to enter the mountain to find Zhang Family Ancestral Manor and save Xiaoge.Â
Recap: A long-range authentication system was set up for the manor in Sichuan, which is where Wu Xieâs team operated. After they messed up a password though, they lost contact with Xiaoge and Pangziâs team in Banai. Wu Xie then rushed over to perform a rescue operation, and for reasons, had to utilize his Sanshuâs identity to do so (so heâs posing as his Sanshu). Pangzi managed to make it out somehow, and now theyâre both trying to get back in.
Ghostman approaches Wu Xie because he recognized Wu Sanxing and was curious what he was doing back here. Hence, he finally shows up and asks Wu Xie to follow him (Vol 8, Ch. 31).
Who is he really and what is his story?
It turns out his name is âZhang Qilingâ (though presumably no meaningful connection to THE Zhang family). Thirty years prior, he was part of the âarchaeology teamâ of Chen Wenjin that came to Banai.Â
He joined the team because he was part of the result of a nation-wide search for people named âZhang Qilingâ, and was the only one who remained by some qualifications (Vol 8, Ch. 36). He doesnât know the significance of the name, however.
Although an archaeology team nominally, their real task was to bring a coffin into the mountain (Vol 8, Ch.35-6). What this is, he has no idea. But he says they were all deceived, and only three people probably knew the real situation.
When they went into the mountain and finally reached the building, the miluotuos (rock beings that preyed on humans and were attracted to their warmth) had been hot on their heels, even if they couldnât immediately breach the alkali barrier. This concentration of Miluotuos triggered the Manorâs defense mechanism - a spray of alkali mist that kills / scares them off, but also liquefied the team. Those in the building were instantly liquefied, and Ghostman was fortunately in the tunnel and only got lightly exposed, and he still became the way he is today (Vol 8, Ch. 35)
He only survived all these years thanks to the help of Panma. And since then, heâs been raising lynxes and keeping people from approaching all these years. If they did get too close, heâd kill them, because it was better they died by his hands than inside that terrible place and feed more miluotuos.
He asks âSanshuâ what heâs doing back here and if he knew things would happen the way they did back then, and if that was why Sanshu did not join their group. He also wants to know who is âin chargeâ now and if Sanshu agrees now that the âsecretâ should never be revealed.
What all did they learn from him?
Since Wu Xie was posing as Sanshu and didnât have his actual memories, he had to tread very carefully on how to answer / ask follow-up questions.
The origin of the qilin tattoo
The Yao people in the area would tattoo a qilin tattoo on their best hunters when they come of age. It turns out the reason it took the shape of the qilin it is today was because a Han tattoo master had come through around Ming or Qing dynasties (1300s - 1900s) to teach here and decided to modify / improve it.Â
Now as to where the original tattoo came from... it was deemed a necessary thing for hunters who hunted deep in Yangjiao Mountain, which to the people was a very unique place. Theyâd forgotten the reason though, and only carried it out of tradition.
Eventually, Ghostmanâs team chased down enough clues to realize it was a very precise topographical map of the mountain. It mapped the route to the Yao ancient road. The Yao people spent a lot of time trying to figure out what special thing was at the end of the route, and Ghostmanâs team similarly presumed this special thing must be the Manor. But then they realized it was a closed loop. (Vol 8, Ch. 34)
Miluotuos and secrets of the mountain
The path that wound around complicatedly was in fact more of a âfenceâ to keep the miluotuos at bay. Miluotuo actually means âold grandmotherâ and refers to the whole mountain. Technically the rock people are the miluotuoâs shadows.
The miluotuos eat people by trapping them inside the rock they secrete, which is why when Wu Xie and co. got stuck in the cave from the siphon, they couldnât find any entrance. And since the miluotuos are everywhere in the mountain, itâs like the entire mountain is jelly with shifting passages.
And as I mentioned above, miluotuos are attracted to heat and while trapped in the walls, could break through if attracted enough. Hence, the Manor has a defense mechanism of misting alkali, which would force them to retreat. (Vol 8, Ch. 34)
Thousand year plan
The Zhang family had actually planned to move the Manor to this area nearly a thousand years ago. Two points - 1) the vegetation around this mountain was of especially good wood for construction. And there was a great fire in Ming dynasty (1300s-1600s) that conveniently wiped out the original vegetation. 2) To transport this lumber down, they formed a deep vertical hole all the way to the bottom of the underground cave. They did this simply by placing a copper ball at the entrance of the cave, and let thousands of years of rain slowly wash away the stone since water would pool at the bottom of the ball. (Vol 8, Ch. 33)
Others
There was a âChen Qingâ group that was Sanshuâs faction, presumably led by a âLao Yuâ.
Thereâs a secret in the mountain that should not be revealed to the outside world. And theyâre very close to losing the âkey to all the secretsâ presumably because Xiaoge got trapped inside.
Notable questions / implications:
What is the significance of the five pointed star that he tosses âSanshuâ? (Vol 8, Ch. 32)
Whose coffin was carried into the Manor? (Vol 8, Ch. 35-6)Â
Some netizens have hypothesized this to be Wang Canghai, but who knows.
What is the âsecretâ that must not be known by the outside world? (Vol 8, Ch. 35)Â
I want to say that while this might be related to the Zhang family secret / gate, itâs not quite it. Otherwise Ghostman would probably know what Zhang Qiling meant?
Whatâs the âonly keyâ that will soon be lost? (Vol 8, Ch. 36)
Again, maybe heâs referring to Xiaoge, but then why would he not know the importance of Zhang Qiling?
Why does Wu Xie feel like he recognizes Ghostman? Whatâs his relation to Wu Xie? âAs he spoke, he regained his composure. Although his whole face was melted, I suddenly had a thoughtâI seemed to recognize him.He wasnât in that photo and didnât have the kind of relationship I thought he did with Uncle Three. As I was thinking this, I immediately broke out in a cold sweat. I had met him before, but where? Who was he?â (Vol 8, Ch. 35)Â
Only âthreeâ people probably knew the full truth of the situation. Assuming Chen Wenjin and Huo Ling were two, who was the third? And was this before or after the âreplacementâ, so were these even the real Chen Wenjin and Huo Ling?
Why did they conduct a nation-wide search for Zhang Qiling? (Did they actually care to find their patriarch for once?)
DMBJ Drama IP State of the Union (and why UN is so much better than main series)
For those curious, I found an article (in Chinese, but MTL does a decent job of translating) discussing the IP history and status of DMBJ, i.e. who owns the rights to produce the dramas over what and till when.
There are two to three parties involved in the current IP battleground - Huanrui Century, who was sold majority of the DMBJ drama IP originally, Linghe Culture, who was subcontracted or sold the rights from Huanrui to produce Ultimate Note (Vol 4-7), and the original author himself who established his own company and has been slowly building up more DMBJ IP / derivatives and trying to reclaim drama IP.
According to sources, itâs unlikely Linghe will be able to cooperate with NPSS again, so the chances of them actually produce the Finale, or the follow-up to Ultimate Note, are low. đ (Although, note that the production of Ultimate Note did not involve NPSS yet was the one adaptation most true to his works... ironically.)
NPSS also has long had disagreements with Huanrui Century, so who knows what will happen next.
I really wanted the producers of Ultimate Note to produce the Finale, and now Iâm not sure which Iâm more scared of - The Lost Tomb level of quality being carried over into the Finale, or the Finale never being made. If you want learn more about the likeliness of having Linghe produce the Finale, just read this.
Pingxie / Iron Triangle Snippets - Wu Xie Missing His Bros
Context: When Wu Xie splits off from Xiaoge and Pangzi (he goes to Sichuan, and they go to Guangxi) so they can work together to get into the Zhang Family Ancestral Manor.
Source:Â Merebearâs translations.
Vol 8, Ch. 35
I had been to many beautiful places with Fatty before, but when I first saw them, I was always knocked down by Fattyâs witticism. It was rare to be separated from him, and this time, the feeling was so different.
Vol 8, Ch. 41
Without Poker-face and Fatty around, I didnât have much confidence in myself. Plus, my feet were injured. All I could think about was my own ending. If I died this time, Fatty and Poker-face would surely sigh with emotion at my grave and say âThis guy canât do without us.â It was at this moment that I really regretted separating from them so easily.
Vol 8, Ch. 42
If I had to say I made an error in judgment, it was that I didnât trust his abilities enough. If it was Poker-face, I honestly would have stayed put.
Vol 8, Ch. 50
I once again wished that Poker-face was here. I was suddenly starting to realize that it wasnât my own good luck, but the two people around me who solved so many problems. I had really been taking it for granted.
Vol 8, Ch. 53
I couldnât help thinking of Fatty and Poker-face again. If they were here, the black-haired corpse wouldâve had his head cut off before he could scratch my back. Or I would have seen Fatty rush out from those pottery jars and screw everything up. But I would have been saved.
Vol 8, Ch. 57
I had never been so overwhelmed. If it was a normal situation, I could calm myself down because I had Poker-face and Fatty around me. But now I was suddenly all alone.
I thought of the many times I had been trapped and in danger with them. Whether it was in the Seven Star Lu palace, at the bottom of the sea, or in Changbai mountain, I had never felt so anxious. But nowâŚ.
Analysis / Callouts:
Nothing really to analyze. But I just love how Wu Xie is such a pining disaster without the other two around. How are you so useless without your husband and mama to coddle you, hmm?
