#c-novel

[naked-bee]

One of Us

To the stylish hanfu wearer I saw at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco today: When you said “incense burner, innnnncense burnerrrrr!!!!!!!!” and made all your friends come look at the display case, I wondered. When I saw you later in the gift shop elegantly flicking open a fan and saying “scum villain,” I knew.

[wordingg]

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Vol. 4

Haha, I almost forgot to post about The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Vol. 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. Like last time, talking about this book at all is going to spoil volume three so, I'm going to put my recommendation at the top and then talk about the book itself under the read more break.

I thought this book was probably the slowest paced out of all the books so far, but it was also the sweetest and fluffiest. Don't expect any big bombshells in this one, but it still advances the plot.

So book three ends with Master Huaizui accepting Chu Wanning's souls from Mo Ran and telling Mo Ran it will take him five years to put Chu Wanning's souls back into his body and revive him. Book four starts in an epistolary style, showing a few quick snapshots of what Mo Ran is doing in the five years Chu Wanning is still being revived. He desperately wants to become someone who can support and protect his shizun, so he travels and studies and helps people selflessly. But, he's also still absolutely tortured by the knowledge of who he was and what he did in his past life. It haunts him constantly.

When Chu Wanning wakes up, it doesn't really sink in that it's been five years until he sees Xue Meng and doesn't recognize him. Xue Zhengyong tells Chu Wanning about all the good that Mo Ran has been doing, how he's been making a name for himself in the cultivation world and working hard. But, it's still a shock to see how much Mo Ran has changed when Chu Wanning finally meets him again (in the bath because of course that's where their tearful reunion takes place, fucking butt ass naked). Mo Ran 2.0 has finally arrived, and he's tall and tan and ripped and also the sweetest boy that ever happened!

I'm not going to recount every event of this book because I think it would take forever. But, yeah, this book definitely has a different tone and feel. Mo Ran is both sweet, but tortured. Also! He doesn't realize until THIS FUCKING BOOK that he LOVES Chu Wanning?!?! I was. My guys. My dudes. I started to cuss this book out loud, I had to put it down (loudly) I was so. I don't even know what I was feeling. I was laughing, but I was also mad. Apparently? He thought he just SUPER respected Chu Wanning, but all that fucking they did in his past life was just mucking it up with lust. It isn't until this book that he's like "oh fuck, I'm in love with him". In his defense he does say he feels like an idiot for not realizing it before but like. God dammit. I'm not even mad. It feels like it's my fault, honestly. I signed up for this.

This book is primarily both Chu Wanning and Mo Ran pining for each other, but trying to keep it professional. With a lot of silly situations thrown in to make their lives hard. They're both struggling with lusting after each other while also respecting the hell out of each other. Chu Wanning is freaking out because he's never felt lust for anyone in his life (supposedly because he's practiced asceticism his whole life, but I'm just going to plunk the demisexual label on his forehead just to make myself happy) and Mo Ran because he's afraid that if he gives in to his baser instincts he'll turn back into Taxian-jun.

The book ends with them all going to Rufeng Sect to attend the wedding of Nangong Si and Song Quitong. Mo Ran meets Ye Wangxi the day they get there, and Ye Wangxi is so fucking sad, Mo Ran decides then and there he's going to fucking ruin this wedding. God, I love this idiot boy so damn much.

ANYWAY! How am I going to survive until next month when the next book comes out? I'm really asking. I've already preordered it! Til next time, I guess.

[avaantares]

Interest check: Guardian travel posters?

Since falling back down the C-drama/novel rabbit hole five or six years ago, I have drawn several midcentury-style travel posters (which I sell as prints and stickers on Etsy and everything else on Redbubble, because I am shameless and also don't hate money). Recently I was lamenting the shortage of Guardian fan merch currently available, and it occurred to me that I could make retro travel posters for Dragon City and/or Dixing. But I also have a backlog of other projects, so I'd like to gauge interest before investing time. Would anyone be interested in Guardian travel posters or other swag (stickers, magnets, whatever else Redbubble sells)?

Here are the MXTX posters I've done, so you can get an idea of the style. I primarily design for stickers, so they tend to be pretty reduction-friendly:

And if you have other ideas for art or merch you want to see, feel free to throw them my way! I'm always looking for new product ideas. :)

[douqi7s]

I did a quick translation of the poem that forms the epigraph for priest's new novel 桥头楼上 (my translation: End of the Bridge, Top of the Tower), and x_los was gracious enough to say that she quite liked it so I thought it worth posting here.

Original text from the novel:

你站在桥上看风景，看风景人在楼上看你；

明月把高楼照成画，画挂在桥头成了风景。

— 化自卞之琳小诗《断章》

My translation:

You take in the landscape from the bridge, and the sightseer watches you from the tower.

The moonlight turns the tower into a painting; hang the painting from the bridge, and it becomes the landscape.

— adapted from the poem 'Fragment' by Bian Zhilin

I consulted several alternative translations of the original poem, which I found here.

[taxianjunism]

now that i’ve finished word of honor i’m going to go read mo du!!! so get ready for that spam! is there an epub for mo du or only the webpage? i don’t mind either way, i just wondered ! <3

[inchronicpain]

tw // mention of knives

totally canon-compliant thought in fgep wherein lin wanyue woke up one morning and thought 'woodworking sounds good'

after kissing li xian good morning (as per their ritual every morning now),

lin wanyue proceeded to gather branches as victims for her latest project

over at the sidelines, li xian watched her ah-yue staring at a thick branch as if it committed a heinous crime before slowly picking it up

then

"ow!"

"ah-yue, while i love seeing you concentrating on your projects, i very much prefer you whole."

a sheepish laugh. "of course, xian-er, i'll be more careful from now on, don't worry!"

li xian, in fact, did worry

soon, thin cuts appeared on lin wanyue's hands as progressively non-wonky-ish figurines started to take form

li xian could only shake her head in fondness

a few weeks later,

li xian was met with a proudly grinning lin wanyue and, cradled in between tanned and strong hands, a delicate-looking wooden rose, rubbed into smoothness

li xian can say with conviction that she Did Not melt into a gooey mess

(but it was a close thing)

lin wanyue received a long kiss for her troubles

[incorrect-web-novels]

Mo Weiyu: That would go against my moral compass.

Xue Ziming: Your moral compass is a fucking roulette wheel!