once in a blue moon i write meta | NOT a spoiler-free blog for all of MXTX's works | you will be disappointed if you follow this blog for CQL content | as some people apparently assume I am Chinese/diasporic, here is the daily reminder that I am not and do not speak from these perspectives | side-side-blog @clownshoessqueaking
Iâve been obsessed with this idea since u first read the new SVSSS extra because itâs SO MESSY. (I know we donât know how old SY is but Iâm making the decision for the funniest outcome)
op's tags: tfw you know thereâs an age gap on one of your relationships but you canât agree on whose and which direction it goes, Shang Qinghua is the same age as Mobei-Jun and 30 years older, Shen Qingqiu is 40 years older than Luo Binghe but also 5 years younger and the same age and six years older, sqh: I will pay you to call LBH gege, SQQ: bro you are broke, later on after an argument with Binghe, SQQ: thatâs enough gege!, *older man kink revoked!*, LBH just blue screens, I had too many thoughts about this can you tell
There's nothing that makes a joke unfunnier than over-explaining it, but because of this post I feel obligated to explain why Quan Yizhen stuffing gold bars in Xie Lian's donation box is so funny from a Chinese reader's perspective.
Quan Yizhen & his gold bars happened at a time of the story full of tragic and tumultuous events. He Xuan just killed Shi Wudu and the entire heavenly court was reeling from his death. Soon after, Xie Lian uncovered Ling Wen's role in the Brocade Immortal fiasco. While everyone else was embroiled in these serious and momentous incidents, Quan Yizhen was on his equally important and serious side quest to stuff XL's donation box full of gold bars.
I think an important rule of comedy is that once the comedian shows that he is aware of himself being comical, once it becomes obvious that he's trying to make people laugh, the joke stops being as funny. A good comedy should be performed with serious and sincere intention. And that's why Quan Yizhen stuffing gold bars in XL's donation box is so funny - because he's so incredibly serious about it.
Quan Yizhen didn't just dump a whole sack of gold bars into the donation box - which would be the quickest and easiest way - he actually took the time to stack them up inside the box one by one (âäžæ čäžæ čć°ćĄâ, chapter 128). Actually he stacked the gold bars so neatly and tightly that they clogged up the donation box (chapter 133). So you see how seriously Quan Yizhen took this task; he showed the same amount of attention and dedication that a 10-year-old would show to his beloved lego toys. In chapter 128, when MXTX describes Quan Yizhen finishing up with the gold bars, she uses the verb æ¶ć·„, which means clock out/finish a day's work. So again you see this is by no means frivolous for Quan Yizhen - this is actual important hard work for him!
I think it goes without saying that the situation is funny also because Quan Yizhen's so persistent about it. The heavenly court may have turned topsy turvy and everyone else may have very grown-up and life-and-death stuff to worry about, but Quan Yizhen will get these gold bars into Xie Lian's donation box (come to think of it he reminds me of the squirrel in Ice Age, they're both so locked in).
The second time XL caught Quan Yizhen in chapter 133 is especially funny to me first of all because of the timing. XL just had a tense confrontation with Ling Wen and brought her back to Puqi Shrine, and while the readers are holding their breath waiting for more startling details about the Brocade Immortal unveiled, we see XL opening the door to reveal Quan Yizhen squatting in front the donation box like a clumsy thief. The verb "squat" (èčČ) is important here because like I explained in this other post, it's undignified and uncouth to squat; you wouldn't catch any other heaven official concerned with their personal image doing it. However, squatting in front of the box makes it easier for Quan Yizhen to stack the gold bars, which again shows how seriously he's taking this.
When MXTX describes Quan Yizhen stuffing the gold bars, she uses the phrase éŹŒéŹŒç„ç„, which means "sneakily" but with exclusively negative connotations, like when you describing a thief tiptoeing around to find stuff to steal. So it's funny that even though Quan Yizhen is doing something nice for XL, he has to do it in a very underhanded way (I honestly never expected to see éŹŒéŹŒç„ç„ in the same sentence as "putting gold bars in donation box", which made me burst out laughing when I first read it).
The whole situation is funny also because it's gold bars. There're pretty specific standards of gift-giving in Chinese culture, like certain gifts would show that you're cultured, sophisticated, and have good taste, but other gifts would show the opposite. For example, it'd very cool to gift someone a great calligrapher's calligraphy or a great artist's painting. It'd also be cool to gift someone stuff made from jade (jade has a lot of cultural significance attached to it and is seen as a noble gem). It'd even be cool to gift someone pearls because they have aesthetic value, and the kind that glows in the dark are especially prized. But gold bars have no cultural significance attached to it except crude, vulgar, obscene wealth. Therefore it's deeply uncool to gift someone gold bars to thank them, and the deep uncoolness is why it's so funny.
Anyway I think the overall characterisation of Quan Yizhen is just hillarious, from the cartoonish way he moves to his childlike speech patterns (he usually speaks in short, broken sentences). In chapter 133, when Quan Yizhen stole a melon from XL's backyard and slinked away with the melon in his mouth, the verb for "carrying something in one's mouth" is ćŒ, which is usually used on animals, like a dog carrying a bone or a cat carrying its kitten. So my mental image of Quan Yizhen is literally this:
(tagging @ghooostbaby because you said you were interested :))
Hello! I'm a new reader of mdzs, and am currently reading EXRs translation, though I intend to read the official one, I've been looking over the internet for the other translations such as Taming wangxians, I was wondering If you knew where I could find these, since I'd like to read those too. I stumbled upon your password protected folder, and the password didn't seem to work..I'd be greatly thankful to you if you could help or direct me where to look
Hey there,
I'm not sure which password protected folder you are referring to, it might have been something I reblogged a long time ago so I wouldn't remember the password or know if it has changed since then. As far as I am aware, people who did fan translations for mdzs have expressed that they no longer want it shared publicly since the official translation, so I'm not sure you'll be able to find them easily.
call me terminally academia-brained but i do think a lot of the fun of character analysis is figuring out how to build a compelling argument for a particular reading using lines of evidence from canon as well as meta/intertextual support
and you could say that what iâm saying here is basically âa lot of the fun of doing character analysis is doing character analysisâ but letâs be real a lot of fandom character analysis is pretty heavily vibes-based. and i think thatâs where i really chafe up against the traditional thought-terminating fandom attitude of like, everyoneâs opinions hold equal weight and any interrogation of that is inherently hostile. because i think itâs fascinating to dig into where others are coming from in terms of their views on characters or dynamics or whatever, especially when they differ significantly from more commonly expressed views, and part of that digging is asking people okay what parts of canon are you drawing from to support your opinion? what parts of canon are you disregarding or downplaying? how does this argument hold up in the light of how race, gender, class, ability, etc. operate both in the pieceâs in-fiction and real world contexts?
the great thing about the wuxia genre is you can start a sect called the Evil Blood Cult in a place called Demon Mountain thatâs a volcano full of poison and you all wear crazy gothic black and red hanfu and practice Sinister Backstabber Style kung fu and like. thatâs not a deterrent to prospective disciples. do all that and a fuckton of bright eyed youngsters will still show up at your door and say hello i would like to join the demon mountain evil blood cult where do i sign up?
Does it ever happen to you that your brain will stop thinking about WWX for a moment and then very suddenly he and the obsession appear again (because they never left)?
i imagine that i feel like someone whose child has left the nest and has a life that no longer revolves around being a parent 24/7, but every time i see something that reminds me of him or spend time with him, he's always and forever my precious, perfect boy
following on the wwx Bingo post (now that I have finished the cnovel i was referring to) it's just a bad idea to make a character that has many traits/tropes in common with wwx (even if 100% unintentionally) because readers of danmei are almost certainly going to be aware of him and thus will constantly be thinking... oh, this reminds me of a much better character, the most special boy in the universe, who i miss always, mxtx's mdzs' wwx
i am sorry to reveal myself as the tumblr that's too woke (or whatever the meme format was) but merch, especially of the plastic kind, rubs against my personal ethics
started reading a cnovel last night and almost stopped at the first chapter because it felt like they were stealing wwx's nachos
like, oh the first chapter is about rejoicing over the violent death (of which the details are unknown and contradicting) of an infamous figure? who started as a playful and handsome and promising young master? who became reviled after gaining power? who is remembered for causing the death of a man who left behind his newborn child twins? and then gets reborn after thirteen eight years and the first thing that happens as he regains consciousness is people abusing him, which prompts him to think Who'd Be Brave Enough to Abuse Me, A Fearsome Powerful Guy?
(also there's a guy who has loved him since the previous life but everyone else, including the protagonist, believes he hates him to death)
To be clear, I was not accusing the writer of plagiarism so much as having a knee-jerk reaction of "that's too many things that are similar to wwx, the most special boy in the universe, which of course from now on belong exclusively to him forever and in perpetuity"
Learning there apparently exists a game called WWX Bingo and in it you're graciously allowed to share similar tropes and character traits âïž unless you get a bingo
started reading a cnovel last night and almost stopped at the first chapter because it felt like they were stealing wwx's nachos
like, oh the first chapter is about rejoicing over the violent death (of which the details are unknown and contradicting) of an infamous figure? who started as a playful and handsome and promising young master? who became reviled after gaining power? who is remembered for causing the death of a man who left behind his newborn child twins? and then gets reborn after thirteen eight years and the first thing that happens as he regains consciousness is people abusing him, which prompts him to think Who'd Be Brave Enough to Abuse Me, A Fearsome Powerful Guy?
(also there's a guy who has loved him since the previous life but everyone else, including the protagonist, believes he hates him to death)
To be clear, I was not accusing the writer of plagiarism so much as having a knee-jerk reaction of "that's too many things that are similar to wwx, the most special boy in the universe, which of course from now on belong exclusively to him forever and in perpetuity"
started reading a cnovel last night and almost stopped at the first chapter because it felt like they were stealing wwx's nachos
like, oh the first chapter is about rejoicing over the violent death (of which the details are unknown and contradicting) of an infamous figure? who started as a playful and handsome and promising young master? who became reviled after gaining power? who is remembered for causing the death of a man who left behind his newborn child twins? and then gets reborn after thirteen eight years and the first thing that happens as he regains consciousness is people abusing him, which prompts him to think Who'd Be Brave Enough to Abuse Me, A Fearsome Powerful Guy?
(also there's a guy who has loved him since the previous life but everyone else, including the protagonist, believes he hates him to death)
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kianamaiart
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