#bjyx

[accio-victuuri]

source: Zhangdi頔哒頔

[rainbowsky]

DD and parenthood

A lot of turtles are talking about this video right now.

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

DD: Has anything changed? Zhou Peng: After having a child, I’m still me. Nothing has changed. Later on, for you, when it comes to starting a family, people will probably be quite concerned about what your state or situation will be like. DD: mn. 😐

Turtles are discussing this conversation from different angles, but the main questions seem to be:

What does Zhou Peng know about/mean by DD's 'life situation'?

What does DD's reaction mean?

Why was this exchange included in the show?

Question 1 - DD's 'situation'

People are speculating about what he he is referring to as DD's 'situation', and what he may or may not know about DD's relationship. Is he talking about the challenges for DD of being a parent as a famous person, or is he referring to the struggle of being a high profile queer parent in China?

As always, it's impossible to know what he meant, but I feel it's unlikely he's speaking with no knowledge of DD's situation.

It's unlikely that DD would spend any significant amount of time with a group of people without them knowing his relationship status. It would be difficult to hide when spending time in such close quarters, especially while having to report back regularly to his partner about what's going on.

It's clear from the recent LRLG (and LRLG, while unverified, is widely believed by turtles to be real) that GG wants regular updates, particularly if something happens while he's away.

This is very normal between married people. It's natural to keep your partner updated. Even without LRLG, we know enough from the BTS that GG and DD are very attached to each other. When DD was away from set for a few days GG would whine and whine.

If we believe they're really in a relationship (and not all turtles do, which is fine), we have to accept that GG and DD would definitely need to stay in close contact during trips like this. Especially when DD is engaging in dangerous activity like rock climbing.

It's inevitable that he would check in with GG regularly to fill him in on what's been going on. It's inevitable that he would be pressed/grilled by GG at times, about what's happening when DD looks rough/exhausted, or is injured or had a setback, or if plans/routes change, etc. We know GG and DD look out for each other.

So I think it's unlikely that his ETU crew wouldn't know about GG. In fact, it's likely that personal things like this - and really, anything that could potentially impact his career - would be discussed prior to leaving, and covered by an NDA.

So, regardless of what Zhou Peng meant by that statement, I think it would likely have been informed by a fuller understanding of DD's 'situation' than is openly discussed here.

Question 2 - DD's reaction

People are reading DD's reaction in various ways. Some interpret him as being sad, while others just see him as tight-lipped and wary. Others are eating this as candy (based on the fact that he didn't shut it down and say that he's not in a relationship right now). Most read his expression as zipping his lips because he does not want to lie.

It's impossible to know what DD is thinking as he flattens his mouth and stays silent. He could be feeling a lot of different things, or he could have mixed feelings.

There are many different angles on this topic that could be flashing through his mind. His career, his relationship, his queerness, societal or familial expectations, what he's seen from friends or colleagues who've had kids, any discussions he's had with people close to him, any logistics he might have already explored for having a family, what he might want his family to look like, what he might want to teach his kids, whether he'll be a good parent...

He could also simply not want to dig too deep into the topic with Zhou Peng because he doesn't want to invite speculation or heterosexual relationship rumors.

Of course, as turtles we're going to inevitably have CPN and think about it from the angle of his relationship with GG.

A simple turtle perspective on this is that - while it's a topic that matters to him - he doesn't want to lie and claim to be single or to have not thought about it yet. He wants to honor his relationship with GG and any plans that they've made or discussions they've had about this topic, by not saying anything that might appear to deny anything about all of that.

There might also be a bit of superstition (or vicarious GG superstition) and not wanting to deny anything about the future existence of a family he wants to one day have.

But for my part, I think he simply isn't at liberty to openly discuss this topic when he's being filmed, so doesn't. It's really that simple.

Question 3 - why include this?

DD doesn't discuss things like this very often, and is a very private person - more so than ever before, really. (And good for him!) So why include a discussion that's so personal, and not directly related to climbing or to his career? Why include a discussion that puts DD on the spot a bit, and that he can't fully open up about?

Well, the series isn't over yet. It's possible we'll get more on this topic, and in fact a lot of turtles are wondering if the issue will be discussed further in the next episode.

Regardless, a lot of people are wondering why DD approved the inclusion of this if it is a sticky conversation. Some feel that it has been included because the topic matters so much to him. Others seem to think that DD wants people to speculate about him and GG, that he wants people to see his reticence and realize there's more to his private life than he openly shares.

I think that the motive is totally unknowable, although I understand the curiosity from turtles on this. There are other possible reasons than have been widely discussed by turtles (who after all, are focused on GGDD).

We see the show's title, "Exploring the Unknown" and the meaning seems obvious. It's about DD going out into unknown territory, exploring and adventuring. But I think it has the deeper meaning of also exploring DD himself. Both from DD's perspective of digging into himself and seeing what he's made of, and from the viewer's perspective of getting to see more of him - his thoughts, feelings, character - than we've ever seen before.

Whether they set out to name it that way for that reason, I think the exploration has taken on that broader meaning, at least for me.

So of course these types of topics are going to come up. Big life topics like career, ambition, personal growth, self-actualization - and parenthood.

Family is such a central topic - particularly in Asia, where family values are very strong IMHO - that it would feel weird if it were never once discussed in a show that centers so personally around DD.

We know family matters a lot to DD, and he has said in the past that he wants kids. I don't think there's a good reason why this topic would be avoided, or would end up on the cutting room floor.

Will GG and DD have kids?

I suspect they will one day, if circumstances allow. They both seem to like kids, and DD has said in the past that he wants kids.

This conversation can be frustrating for me sometimes, because a lot of turtles act like it's impossible for GG and DD to have kids, and therefore treat any discussion of them having kids as tragic and heartbreaking, or as inevitably leading to them breaking up and marrying women.

As far as I'm concerned the discussion is not 'tragic and heartbreaking', and DD is not about to burst into tears. It's just a private topic that he can't speak openly about. Silence is not automatically grief, it's just silence.

And there's a bit of... I won't call it homophobia necessarily, but ignorance of gay lives at play here. Gay men don't need to marry women if they want to have children - not even in China. They also don't need to spend their lives in hopeless yearning. There are options available.

I covered this topic fairly thoroughly a while back, you can find that post here.

Gay men in China are having children through surrogacy (which GG and DD can definitely afford), so while having children would be challenging, it's not something that's off the table for them.

The bigger barrier for them right now would be the fact that they are both so busy and do not have time for children. Being a parent is a huge responsibility, and neither of them is the type of person who would take it on lightly, or be happy spending months at a time away from their kids.

[waangxiann]

When they are born to play their characters

[ilovealonelystar]

Ahh... It's been one year already since I was able to experience something very exciting in this fandom: the release of YiZhan's Dragon Boat date video.

To celebrate this landmark, I will compile here some of the many things that happened on that day (June 18th) during the shooting.

Brace yourselves, and here we go!

Bonus: the next day, the BTS is filled with GG being hyper and happy. 😏

Whereas WYB has the whole same-clothing-at-the-airport-as-the-day-before saga, and his unusual happiness during the Happy Camp recording.

Bonus 2?: Okay. *Breathe in. Breathe out.* Only now I noticed that WYB was wearing dangling earrings (on both sides!) on the date. 😩 I love him with earrings!!!!! The boy really went all out to be beautiful to his GG. 😌

Bonus 3: After Dragon Boat, DD stays away from shooting CQL for a week, until June 25th unless you think they secretly met on June 22nd (and GG's mood visibly sours on the BTS as the days go by), and when they reunite, this is the first scene of the BTS. 🥹

--

(Sorry, I didn't sub word by word because it would take A LONG, LONG time. But I pointed out the general context of the clips and subbed the highlights. ☺️)

Disclaimer: This transcription and translation were done using software tools. I’m not a Chinese speaker, so there may be errors.

[marshmallowwitharubberband]

My favorite thing about watching The Untamed bts clips is not yizhan and their antics, it's the way the other actors react to it. Especially when they're trapped in the third wheel role.

Liu Haikuan (Lan Xichen) always looks genuinely amused and I headcanon that he ships it.

Xuan Lu (Jiang Yanli) OBVIOUSLY ships it. She ships it so much even Temu can't compare.

Ji Li (Nie Huai Sang) and Yubin (Wen Ning) are either amused, annoyed, or resigned, depending on the clip.

But my favorite is Wang Zuo Cheng (Jiang Cheng) , he never knows wtf is going on and is always 70% confused 30% scared lmao.

My favorite clip of them is that one where YiZhan are shouting at each other from opposite ends of a table and Zuo Cheng is in the middle, looking at the camera like "mom, come pick me up"

[p-h03n1-x]

WangXian

BoXiao

Oh how I miss them…

[bjyx-spelunkers]

A Tale of Two Disappearing Acts

Hoo boy. OK my spelunking skills are extremely rusty SO if you spot any errors, feel free to bully me over it.

NOW. do we all remember the back-to-back fashion weeks in late Feb to early March?

Here's a visual recap, if not:

XZ Milan show 27 Feb. WYB Paris show 6, 8 10 Mar.

There were many many rumours flying around at the time that one of them was following the other across Europe etc etc. but Y13 and I didn't take them too seriously. we WANTED to suspect something when WYB started posting all those cute little comic + captions with his photos, but then XZ's itinerary disuaded us of that, he was most definitely in Beijing around the time those were posted.

AND THEN recently, I came across this word of mouth thing from a Chinese turtle (that should always always always be taken with a few tablespoons of salt!!): A DD non-toxic solo fan claimed that she (via her deep connections) saw the two of them together in a hotel in Paris. Specifically on 13 & 14 March. which then brought our attention back to those few weeks. hur hur... i'll lay out their itineraries in detail here and leave you to decide, with a bonus at the end.

Disappearing Act #1

Here's XZ's itinerary from 24 Feb to 3 Mar

Just note the Weibo post for now. Literally translated, it means "accompanied by elegance, embarking on a journey with style", along with pictures of him looking swanky Gucci at a prop airport pre-departure. All very normal.

OK, so what was WYB doing at this time?

So this guy, on the 24th, posted OK EVERYBODY, back to work! (trans: the noble steed leaps, auspicious day for starting work, buck up your spirit!) and then freaking disappears for nine days. no trace, no pics. YBO was still posting stuff, and there was a court case thing against defamers. but no trace of where his actual person actually is.

Now, that in itself isn't odd, he likes to disappear. the odd thing was that the most meticulous Chinese turtle cataloguer that i know of, for some reason, kept insisting that WYB had already flown to Paris on 24 Feb. She even said she knew which flight it was, but had no pictures or vids to prove this, but was adamant. And also halfway through WYB's disappearance, Chinese turtles started reinterpreting XZ's cryptic message "格调启程" (Ge-Diao Qi Cheng) = GD = "Ge-Di" as in GG and DD together embarking on a journey. i.e. WYB tagged along. WELL! the opportunity was certainly there! no clashes detected here!

WYB then popped up on 5 Mar already in Paris for his show. along with all these super cute comic style captions!

Gar....They could totally plausibly be drawn by XZ, and XZ wasn't especially busy around that time, and we know he likes doodling on his iPad, AND they're completely in his style! So yes, in my mind, it could all be XZ having a lot of fun.

Anyway, 5-11 Mar chugged along merrily. WYB did his three shows (6 Mar Loewe, 8 Mar Lacoste, 10 Mar Chanel), looking pretty as always. XZ was in Beijing getting his makeup confirmed for his new drama (5 Mar), then attending an award ceremony in Shanghai (9 Mar), and was filmed flying from Shanghai to Beijing (11 Mar). WYB posted a super emo compilation of photos on Insta, along with "I walk this earth alone" as BGM, obviously emo and pining.

Disappearing Act #2

THEN, from 12 Mar to 16 Mar, they BOTH freaking disappear! no photos etc.

This actually fits in very well with what the DD solo fan claimed, that she was able to stay in the same hotel as WYB due to her connections, and then on 13 Mar, security was upped in the hotel, and then she ran into the two of them together. on 14 Mar, she asked the staff, and they confirmed that both were still there in the hotel.

Well, all I can say is, the itineraries do allow the opportunity for XZ to fly back to Europe and be with WYB for another 3-4 days.

And the bonus I promised? and I really can't believe it didn't register when it happened at the time.

On 16 Mar, wyb flew back from Switzerland.

SWITZERLAND!!!!!!!!!

Bloody Switzerland again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRGGGHHH...... He openly flew back from Geneva, Switzerland and if you don't know why I'm screaming, here go read this

People are claiming it's for work. and i need your help with this. It's been two months, WHAT work did he go for? for which brand? if you know, please tell me. BECAUSE OR ELSE Y13 and I are just sitting here thinking

HONEYMOON 2.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XZ reappears only on 19 Mar.

[lanwangjihouse]

Cr: 一口全麦兔司