#jyzx

[summerskiesstars]

《锦衣之下》

袁今夏×陆绎 ｜ 六元一斤虾 ｜ 仅绎知夏

Never thought I'll be one to read a 小说 (cover to cover too) since my reading consisted solely of English books since... I started reading lol. Guess you have to start somewhere ☺️ After years of not reading I guess I'm back in business whoo~

P.S. should I get the physical books? The online version has missing parts/different plot points ugh (yes I read both versions #中毒)

[sionnac]

錦衣之下 25

And thus begins the next subtle change in YiXia: Serial Repeat Mutual Handholding.

Jinxia has noticed the opera troupe leader’s weird behaviour and has taken to stalking the guy everywhere.  Skipping along this part, Jinxia sees the guy paying respects to a dead someone, accidentally makes noise, spooking the guy, but is saved by the cat, who was stalking Jinxia.

YiXia come back to investigate the place together, and I noticed this little interaction between them for the first time:

Lu Yi is totally trolling her over her ghost fears.  Eventually, the two come upon the scene of the previous crime that if memory serves me correct is the first time I’m mentioning it in my summaries.  HAHA.  I won’t even bother explaining it.  IT’S NOT IMPORTANT.  The important thing is that it’s related to the current case, so YiXia go to inspect it further, much to Jinxia’s dismay.  

Wuxia-historical hallucination-inducing techniques prove to be extremely strong, as somehow YiXia hallucinate the exact same things. together.  8D  #justwuxiathings    Or are they just that in tune.

They snap out of that hallucination and decide to leave because it feels dangerous.  Ahem.  Let me draw your attention to the fact that Lu -- I don’t like physical contact. dont touch me -- Yi quickly grabs Jinxia’s arm to leave.   

He could very easily just use his words, but here he is initiating physical contact voluntarily by himself.  It’s interesting to note that Lu Yi doesn’t grab her hand because that’s a rather intimate act in historical settings.  Proper Lu Yi is proper even when being assaulted by CG snow.  Oh no, our YiXia couple have walked themselves into another hallucination.  

He lets go of her until she trips into his arm, and we get this sequence of little actions:

Again, these are all very small acting/directing choices, but added up, they provide a very traceable and complete road map of their relationship.  Jinxia has already nurtured the habit of apologizing for accidentally or subconsciously touching him or bumping into him.  Here, there’s a mild evolution to their interactions.  Jinxia is surprised.  This is twice he’s been the one to reach out to her.  It can’t be just a coincidence or a one-off event.

I just want to also point out the tight dialogue here.  I’ve been devouring cdramas lately at frightening speed, and some of these series’ scripts, I swear, are padded with repetition just to hit the runtime.  Jinxia and Lu Yi are now walking through an endless CG snow landscape, so Jinxia tries to start some small talk.

“If you don’t believe in ghosts or gods, what do you believe in?”

“Myself.”

This little exchange’s purpose ends up being three-fold.  One, it shows that Jinxia and Lu Yi get along well enough to talk about random, mundane things and mutually enjoy it enough to continue talking about it.  You very quickly know if Lu Yi doesn’t want to interact with you.  He very simply will not.  He will just stare at you.  Two, it reinforces Lu Yi’s lonely, self-reliant upbringing.  And three, it becomes a callback later on during poison hot potato arc.  Thank, directors.  Thank, scriptwriters.  Thank, author.  Thank whoever paid such conscientious attention to YiXia dialogue.

They walk around for what seems like a few hours until Jinxia is finally sick of seeing the same CG tree and sits down to rest.  Now, we could say that Jinxia just doesn’t care anymore and is too cold, but that would be not giving Jinxia enough credit.  Jinxia is especially sensitive to small, minute changes.  Though she may not always be able to suss out the exact reason, very few behavioural cues pass under her radar.

Jinxia has realized that Lu Yi has begun to mind less and less about her touching him, reinforced by his actions just slightly prior.  I absolutely love that she’s like, “Whelp.  If I’m going to do this, I might as well go all the way.”  *Bear hugs around both legs.*

Lu Yi, of course, doesn’t feel cold because his heart is layered in years of permafrost.  Here’s Jinxia pouring her heart out, giving her final will and testament just in case she dies, and Lu Yi’s just like : |.

Jinxia takes this opportunity to air all her grievances at him, since “I might be dying, anyway.”  It always cracks me up that when Jinxia thinks she’s dying, she never fails to berate Lu Yi in her dying messages.

If it’s not clear by now, Lu Yi has a bit of a twisted/morbid sense of humour.  It’s easy to miss because Lu Yi doesn’t laugh out loud, but he’ll randomly make jokes that border between “haha, so funny” and “haha, <nervous laughter>”, like his “sink you in the river” joke and his “my hands are covered in a lot of officials’ blood” “joke”.  So despite the fact Jinxia thinks she’s dying, Lu Yi still finds a bit of humour in the fact that she saved her last words just to insult him.

In particular, she says, “If you’re like this, no girl’s going to fall for you.”  Famous last words, Jinxia, famous last words.  Just also pointing out, all her descriptors of him are accurate -- unsociable and weird, off-putting, etc.  :D

Here begins also the thematic throughline of “I’ve always had to make my way through life alone, but now that you’re here, I have someone I can depend on.” 

“But now that 大人 is beside me, I feel like even if the sky fell, there’s someone to hold it up.”

Lu Yi torpedoes her sentiments and half-jokingly asks whether that means she thinks she can slack off now since someone else can do all the work.   HAHAHA.

I know Lu Yi’s backstory is different from his novel origins, but there’s something bittersweet to me in the parallel of Jinxia and Lu Yi in the drama, where they’re both fiercely independent types but not in an arrogant “I don’t need nobody” way.  Rather, it’s an independence born out of necessity, specifically one born on the backs of mothers who loved them and made the ultimate sacrifice for them.  Certainly, Jinxia doesn’t know this until far later, but being left an orphan most definitely contributed to her self-reliant attitude.  Their natures are pretty opposite on the reticent/reserved - open/outgoing spectrum, but at their core, they’re quite similar.

The jokes cease when Jinxia starts to faint from being “too cold,” at which point Lu Yi kneels down to check on her, and then. this. moment:  

      She’s hugging his knee.  Yes.  Thank.  JYZX is this wonderful, little series that is just a collage of all these kinds of moments.  It’s a series built on these sorts of small little things that somehow make their relationship more intimate, despite the lack of “I love you” and “intense kissing.”

Lu Yi figures out the snow is actually CG fake and breaks the hallucination.  They find themselves back where they started in the abandoned opera house. 

This time Jinxia is doing the handholding and dragging Lu Yi out of the creepy place, and he lets her hold onto him all the way until they’re outside.

Jinxia struggles with her fear of ghosts vs her duty as a cop.  Her duty as a cop ends up winning out and also her reluctance to leave Lu Yi behind and  HAHA.  THE SCENE CUT HERE.  It has Jinxia climbing out of a hole she just dug.  Can you imagine that conversation?  Lu Yi clearly made her do all the digging.  HAHAHA.  Lu Yi leaves her to investigate the long-dead corpse herself, as he wordlessly leaves to go re-collect evidence.  She finds evidence but discovers him gone. 8D  Lu Yi, unintentionally trolling her with her ghost fears.

She sees what looks like a freaky ghost child shuffle by her and decides she’s had enough of today, what with all the freak CG blizzards and ghost stories.

Lu Yi returns to find her scrunched into a ball and pokes her in the head.   Heehee.  Poor Jinxia attempts to swat away the poking ghost in a blind panic.  

This next segment made me laugh when I first watched it ‘cuz it was all slo mo set to background music, but I’ve come to ..... I wouldn’t go as far as to say “appreciate” (HAHA) the filming choice, but in some sense, it’s like a visual representation of a moment that both of them have filed away into their memories strongly for reminiscing when they go, “Ah, yeah.  Looking back now, that’s one of those times where we had a moment.  A thing was definitely going on between us then, even if we didn’t consciously notice at the time.”

Jinxia at this point is completely rattled by the absolute weirdness of this place and can’t help but grab onto Lu Yi...just. a little. very little.  I really like this specific look of Lu Yi’s.  It’s the perfect example of that behaviour quirk of Lu Yi’s I sometimes point out, the one where he’s not irritated or angry but just curiously, silently observing what’s happening.    

Jinxia has actually begun to forget their boundaries whatsoever by now but promptly remembers.  I have to say by this time, it’s not even romantic love.  It’s simply a case of “we co-exist well together.  I find comfort in your presence.”

This last little exchange sort of solidifies the day’s developments.  Lu Yi recalls her “even if the sky were to fall” statement, and it marks the first moment where he consciously allows Jinxia to hold onto him.   In fact, it’s the first time he’s  offered, not just initiated.

I didn’t gif it all, but this is another thing that slowly increases in frequency:

Their mundane banter as they walk to and from places together.  In this instance, specifically them pushing the responsibility of cleaning up the corpse on each other.  He doesn’t want to do it.  It’s dirty.  She doesn’t want to do it.  It’s “dirty.”  :DDDD  :DDD  

[sionnac]

SCREEEE.

THIS. 錦衣之下 BTS.   THIS NEW DELETED SCENE THAT WAS RELEASED NINE MONTHS LATER.    IT’S FIVE AND A HALF MINUTES LONG, AND IT’S 90% COMPLETE.  THANK, VGA TEAM.   THANK FOR COMPLETE 啊德 BACKSTORY.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1FJ411J7HX?p=13

Aiyoooo, 張承德, He has a full name.  TT____TT.  

 I’m just going to insert this into my JYZX canon, thanks.

“所以就算他親口跟我説他為了利益殺害自己好兄弟, 我也不信”

“So even if I heard it from him personally that he killed his close friend out of self-interest, I still wouldn’t believe it.”

“人終究是人,又豈會真的冷血無情“

“In the end, a human is still a human.  How could we really be completely cold-blooded and heartless?”

I cannot.  I am ded.   See, the way Lu Yi’s backstory is told here, no one is privy to what actually happened that day, not even Cen Fu.  And in fact, it’s likely no one ever will.  Lu Yi is not the type to justify and excuse himself.  Jinxia’s right.  Lu Yi would simply say he killed his best friend and never clarify further.

Cen Fu just states the obvious, having gone through a similar process, but Jinxia isn’t repulsed by the fact.  In so, so, so many other series, such a reveal would be grounds for an initial distancing and cooling off period between the two, blahblahblah, big talk between the characters justifying what happened and making up.  Verbal communication is often touted as the basis for a healthy relationship.  I, though, very much appreciate a series that builds a relationship up not through verbal communication, but through unspoken communication, through gestures and expressions. 

Jinxia firmly knows there’s more to the story and simply trusts that Lu Yi would -- could never do such a thing.  It’s not a trust through the lens of blind love, but a trust and understanding built up slowly through daily interaction and observation of consistent behaviour.  

It’s a beautiful storytelling choice to have Jinxia simply believe him without direct confirmation, where we as the audience alone are given the emotional payoff of her trust.  She doesn’t need the confirmation.  She already knows.  She hears the grisly facts from Cen Fu, and her heart only aches for Lu Yi, nothing more, nothing less, and it is urehguhuhguehg. =w=  I cannot.  me too, Jinxia.  Me too. 心疼大人wwwwwwwughwughwugh.  

[sionnac]

錦衣之下 24

Continuing on......

The next set of gifs are just Jinxia being very enthusiastic about her fake opera role and Lu Yi wondering what magic she cast on him that left him in these weird sleeves and this weird outfit.   This whole segment is a perfect display of their usual dynamic.  

First, Lu Yi hates it and everything about it.

Then Jinxia’s enthusiasm startles him.

She tries to rope Lu Yi into her hijinks.   Lu Yi adamantly refuses.

This is like the perfect example of typical Lu Yi - Jinxia interaction.  Lu Yi doesn’t want to do any of it but won’t actually say anything.  He’s content to just stand there creating awkward silence, while Jinxia sighs at him but remains unperturbed.

I can’t.  Jinxia again takes the opportunity to jab at Lu Yi in his silence, saying his memory is terrible.  Lu Yi gives her the equivalent of a “wot u say about me, mate” look.  Darn you, RJL, and your exceedingly precise expressions.   They’re all irritated expressions but somehow mean markedly different things.  Hahaha.

Eventually, Jinxia starts going off script, which legit cracks Lu Yi up.  You can try all you like, Lu Yi, but she’s irresistible in her weird charm.

As adamant as Lu Yi is in not joining opera practice, Jinxia is equally adamant that he will try it and he will like it.

It’s a small, small moment, but at this point, Lu Yi has really begun seeing Jinxia as “my people.”  He doesn’t flinch away at her touch or look irritated.  He’s just doing the Lu Yi thing of curious observation.  

Until, of course, he figures out what she wants and fights her like a petulant child.

Jinxia is unflappable and just continues along in her one-man play.

He just really hates those sleeves.  By this point, the play has deviated completely from the original, and the opera troupe member asks her what’s going on.

And here’s the 2nd of the two fourth wall breaking moments, as Jinxia insults Lu Yi across series.  The play she’s doing is Legend of the White Snake, but instead of going off with the main lead, she has the White Snake pair up with the Green Snake in a womance, because Xu Xian is “weak and cowardly and doesn’t deserve her.”  HAHA.

Who does RJL play in the 2017 adaptation of the White Snake?  That’s right, Xu Xian.  Did I also watch like 30 episodes of this to understand this joke?  I SURE DID.

One last little thing from this scene:  I love that Lu Yi stands there listening to her anti-Xu Xian rant while considering her points.  It’s just, again, one of those small things about this series, where it shows in very subtle ways how a relationship builds.  Him listening to her isn’t the focus of this scene.  It’s just a small acting/directing choice of someone or someones who understand that two people who begin to deepen their relationship together will naturally begin to pay more attention to each other’s little idiosyncracies.  It’s not unlike someone telling a joke in a group but looking to their best friend first to see their reaction.

I lied.  One last, last thing:

Heehee.  They both leaned in together to look at the drama repertoire.  Hue.  (*´艸`*)  Ahem.  Just ignore me.  What is wrong with me.

[sionnac]

錦衣之下 23

Scene swapping again, we have Lu Yi and Jinxia “undercover” in plainclothes to investigate the opera troupe where a member of its troupe died in the same way as their jailed not-really-thief, but Lu Yi is still kind of grumpy over Xie Xiao’s existence.  

Once again, we have Jinxia’s shameless appreciation of pretty people as she sits there staring fixedly at plainclothes Lu Yi.

There’s a thing I love about Lu Yi when he reacts to people commenting on his looks.  He always looks at himself and sort of absorbs what they’re saying like, “....oh, is that so?”  

If you squint, you will catch just the hint of his expression softening when Jinxia says that the plainclothes look makes him more approachable.  Jinxia is the friend we all need.  Jinxia would keep us all well fed on compliments.

“大人, bear with this for a little while longer.  This is the best plan I’ve got for getting close to the Chunxi troupe.”

Aiyo, Lu Yi, you tsundere child, you.  Just by the dialogue, we can tell Jinxia had to persuade you to come with her, but you totally dressed...down and you’re now sitting here executing her plan with her.  Stop pretending you don’t want to be here.

“Why didn’t you ask Yang Yue or Cen Fu?  Why’d it have to be me specifically?”

“Because 大人 is a lot more attractive than either of them.”

YOU SILVER-TONGUED CHILD, JINXIA.  HAHA.  I cannot.  The acting for this part is just so carefully measured.  Jinxia’s look of innocent surprise is such a good acting choice.  It relays to us, the audience, that her compliment is both given without even a whit of personalized romantic attraction and that she’s surprised Lu Yi can’t figure out why.  And then couple it with Lu Yi’s equally innocent brief pause of pleasant surprise -- yes, thank for these two actors.  Plz, moar togethar, yas?  OTL  I LIVE IN HOPE.

“Aside from postures and voice, looks are important too.”

“This is the most accurate thing you’ve said in all the time since I first met you.”

HAH.  DON’T TRY TO HIDE IT WITH CONFIDENCE NOW, LU YI.  You totally were taken aback when she said you looked good.   Again, one of the things that makes YiXia couple overly sweet is this.....innocent sort of back and forth with the compliments.  Jinxia shamelessly butters him up, while Lu Yi follows up with the equivalent of shrugging and jumping into her vat of butter.  It’s sweet because you get the sense that Lu Yi actually rarely thinks about his looks on an everyday basis and is really just following along with Jinxia’s banter.

Cen Fu continues to be best side bro as he acts out the part of a thief whose robbery attempt on the opera troupe boss is foiled by Jinxia, who then uses the fake robbery to worm her way into the opera troupe in typical Jinxia fashion.

Jinxia takes this opportunity to mess with Lu Yi in what is the first of two 4th wall breaking gags.  She introduces them both, not letting Lu Yi introduce himself and bestows upon him the name, “Lu 13.”  HAHAHA.

Here comes the Chinese slang lessons.  How do I even begin to explain the “13″ here?  Basically, 13 = B = ....bluntly put, it’s the phonetic equivalent of “cunt” in Chinese and technically means the same but ....somehow not to that exact level of insult.  The flavour of the insult is something closer to “asshole,” but it can also be a playful sort of jab between people who are familiar with each other.  Long story short, in a 4th wall breaking way, Jinxia is more or less calling Lu Yi an asshole.  HAHAHA.

The next set of gifs are just Lu Yi waffling between “nomg” and “curiously interested” as Jinxia spins her woeful, pity-me tale.

The funniest thing about all this is we later find that Lu Yi is on par with Jinxia in roleplaying characters and goes to similar shameless lengths to stay in character.  8yrsold!Lu Yi, best Lu Yi.  Truly, they deserve each other.  :DD

Finally, Jinxia’s one-man play culminates in the dichotomous “yes, yes, yes!” “no, no, no!” reactions of the two. 

If you’re wondering who wins, it’s Jinxia.  It’s totally Jinxia, as she drags Lu Yi off to join an opera troupe with her.

Once at the opera troupe, one of its members suggests getting them set up with clothes and some warm up.   Lu Yi is thrilled to be doing theater.

Thrilled.

Unfortunately for him, Lu Yi finds his rotating knives-filled glare is casually brushed aside by Jinxia’s cheery, gung-ho attitude. 

What. a shame.  What. a. shame.  :]  Next up:  Lu Yi enthusiastically blends into the opera troupe.  Enthusiastically.

[sionnac]

錦衣之下 22

It’s the infiltrating opera troupe portion, but first these little moments before it.  

Zhai Lanye has figured out who Lu Yi is and has come to pay him a visit, expressing interest in him despite his earlier deception but is really here to glean information.  Lu Yi takes this opportunity to question her further, with both of them fake flirting with each other, resulting in her eventually touching his hand.   

This brief “What is she staring at?...Oh.” moment in which he then instantly pulls back his hand and Jinxia scuttles away like a startled mouse is the most interesting part of all this.   He’s just pretending to be interested for the case, and she really shouldn’t care a bit who he may or may not be flirting with, but both find themselves feeling awkward anyways when the other notices 8D.   It’s the focus on the subconscious mutual interest in the other’s activities rather than any jealousy plot point that makes this moment rather unique in romantic series.

________

Swapping scenes, Xie Xiao gives Jinxia a clue as to how the guy in jail died, so she goes back to check his corpse.  Jinxia finds the murder weapon and.... 

.... also finds Lu Yi stalking around behind her.  Lu Yi, stop using your ninja skills to scare your future wife.  The ensuing banter is 😂:

  “大人, were you born in the year of the cat???  Why didn’t you say anything???  You almost scared me to death!”

“Only people who have done dishonest things can be scared to death.  What, has Constable Yuan done something dishonest recently?”

“How could I do dishonest things!  I’m honest, forthright, unlike you.”  

There’s this pause as he processes what she tried to slip in at the end there, hahaha, before she corrects it under his irritated glare.

“You’re very honest and forthright as well~ :) ”

Jinxia hastily switches topics and asks why Lu Yi happens to be here.  Lu Yi has absolutely become accustomed to Jinxia’s reliable observations and once he heard Jinxia had a lead, he apparently waited around the corpse for her to arrive.  You totally just hid out of sight to scare her, didn’t you, Lu Yi.  Hahahaha.

Anddd here begins Lu Yi’s conditioned response to Xie Xiao’s name.  What started as just mere distaste evolves into full-blown jealousy later, but it’s this hilarious sort of grumbly jealousy that Lu Yi just walks away to process alone, sulkily.

Look at him, absconding away.  

[sionnac]

錦衣之下 21

Every day I think the obsession will fade away, it just intensifies.  Imsorrybutimnotsorry.  Why is this happening.  Bleed it away.  Bleed it away.  

Jinxia finishes lunch and decides to pester Lu Yi for repayment of the boat fee.  This little moment here, haha, her prepping her face for maximal smiley-ness.

Another small moment, Jinxia noticing Lu Yi’s map when she was really only there to ask for money.  I point it out because Lu Yi, again, doesn’t directly tell Jinxia what his actual purpose is for sending her to the house again later.  He just tells her to sit down and wait for a non-existent rooster to crow.  He assumes she’s observant and clever enough to understand why.

This next exchange 🤣 where Lu Yi agrees to pay for the boat but not the food eaten onboard since Jinxia ate all of it and he ate none of it:

I only ate a few pieces of the snacks.

Constable Yuan, one must be honest as a person.

The best part about this exchange is this little extra ugh expression + momentary BSOD in between his mild amusement/trolling as Lu Yi re-lives the horror of watching Jinxia inhale the table’s contents because solely from an acting PoV, Ren Jialun doesn’t see the flashback they insert here but either he inhabits Lu Yi’s mindspace so well that he knows Lu Yi would be thinking back to that moment and emotes accordingly or the director told him so.  I lean towards RJL being the one to decide since he was the one who came up with all of Lu Yi’s little mannerisms. 

______

Skipping along again.  It’s here, the umbrella scene.  Umbrella scenes are so common in cdramas, you’d almost call them a trope of these historical series.

Jinxia returns to the residence(?) of the now deceased jail guy, plays with the cat for a while, and then realizes very quickly that Lu Yi has sent her here for another purpose other than to sit here and wait for non-existent roosters to crow.  

Remembering the map she glanced at, Jinxia turns her attention to the adjacent building, catching sight of Lu Yi standing in the window, who one wonders how long he’d been standing there for.  He’s Jinyiwei.  I assume he’s used to standing around doing nothing a lot. 

He motions for her to leave, and...if you squint, you can see just the hint of him being pleased.   Good thing you’re clever, Jinxia, or he’d be standing there all night.

I’m sorry.  I just had to clip this.  Jinxia questions why the cat comes out.  Silly Jinxia.  The cat loves you so much now, it followed you out into the rain, which it very much does not love.  HAHA.  The poor cat, all wet for this one scene.  Your sacrifice will be remembered by Yixia fans, little cat.

Jinxia, bless her heart, chooses to shield the cat over herself in the downpour, and this is why the cat has also fallen for you, Jinxia.  Yet another rival for you, Lu Yi, vying for Jinxia’s attention.

Jinxia has no umbrella for what I’ll assume are monetary reasons.  That’s okay.  Lu Yi is drowning in cash and has brought his own umbrella.  This next part really cracks me up.

Jinxia is mostly fixated on talking about the case and expounding on the details she discovered.   

Lu Yi, on the other hand, is at best half-listening while also coming to terms with the fact that she is absolutely worming her way into his ice heart with each passing rain-soaked second.

Jinxia: blahblah case blahblah case case blahblahblah, awww kitty. is okay. blahblah.

Lu Yi:  Imma. take. a quick peek. 

You just criticalled him, Jinxia.  He looked over right when she fussed over the cat.  LOL.  It’s super effective.  

Lu Yi:  I’m.  just.  gonna. subtly. move my umbrella. over. a little.

But because it’s Jinxia, she instantly notices the minor change.

And then we get more of Lu Yi’s double meaning sentences:

“You’re getting drenched.  That makes my heart ache.”

Oh, wait.  Those aren’t the correct subs.  Those are the other subs, the subs for Lu Yi’s inner commentary.  

Jokes aside, the dialogue is a little hard to translate perfectly since 心疼 is this weird word that can also be sort of ...verbified into something along the lines of “heart aches for/to love so much, it hurts.”

:p  Let me try again:   

“The cat’s scared of water.  It getting drenched makes people’s hearts ache.”

Which actuallllyyyyy recalllssss this scene:

“Be careful.  Curiosity will kill a wild cat like you.”

The cat is u, Jinxia.  It’s u.  

Lu Yi is full of these double meaning + pun-soundalike things -- like the cockroach, like this cat, the love token/harp strings talk about his bracelet, etc. -- which I find amusing.  It’s a subtle nod to the fact that while Lu Yi is a man of few words, he chooses those words carefully.

Upon hearing Lu Yi’s explanation, Jinxia cheekily but unknowingly accurately questions whether she, too, evokes heartache in others. 

The answer is yes, yes, you do, Jinxia.  Too much.  Far too much.

But reticent Lu Yi is reticent, so he doesn’t answer this question until like 40 episodes later. to himself. in his own thoughts.  Shakes fist at the accursed long-range glass shard launched from 40 episodes prior.  You will search the world over, but you will seldom find a reticent character of this level who also possesses this level of articulate cogency with a penchant for wordplay.

Again, the fact he doesn’t answer but remembers all the stuff she jokingly or randomly says is one of those repeated little things about this series that makes up for all its other deficiencies.  They don’t make a big deal of it, but it’s just such a natural way to show both of them slowly becoming an increasingly irreplaceable existence in the other’s life by revealing that they took every little utterance, every little interaction to heart subconsciously and remembered them all.

This post is getting..insanely long again, so I’ll forgo the fat gifs and just point out this bit at the end of the rain scene:

“Oh, that’s right, 大人, you asked me to wait in that place until the rooster crowed three times.  Why?”

“Zhou Xianyi’s death was odd.  I thought that place might be a little ‘unclean.’   You’re full of vitality.  I figured if you stayed there, you’d chase out anything evil.”

“You were messing with me??”

“In your heart, am I that kind of person?”

THE ANSWER IS YES, JINXIA.  YES, HE IS.  HE KNEW YOU WERE SCARED OF GHOSTS.   HE WAS TROLLING YOU.  LOLLLL.

And she knows it, too.  HAHAHA.  After sucking up to him and hastily saying he must have done it for her own good and for training reasons, we get this subtle side eyeroll:

Jinxia, truly, the Patroness Saint of Backhanded Compliments.

[sionnac]

錦衣之下 20

Totally skipping over Zhai Lanye boat part BECAUSE I AM AN IMPATIENT HUMAN BEING but...

I’ll note that it’s eternally amusing that Jinxia keeps pointing out all these pretty people, assuming Lu Yi is attracted to them when he actually has zero interest.

Having returned from their boat expedition, Jinxia, of course, with her maxed out observation skills has noticed a variety things about Zhai Lanye -- she’s sick, her servant’s been somewhere, she has excellent sewing skills, etc.

It’s a small moment, but again I just really, really like the very slow advancement towards comfortable co-existence between Lu Yi and Jinxia, and not even on a romantic front.  Jinxia doesn’t bother explaining to Da Yang about why she knows Zhai Lanye’s sponsor is loaded and just smiles because she knows Lu Yi has already come to the same conclusion through his own observations. 

But the most important observation? 

Jinxia has noticed Zhai Lanye’s saft pale skin and how pretty she is.  I can’t.  HAHAHA.  

Jinxia.  Your shamelessness.  HAHA.   HER LITTLE CREEPER HAND.

What’s most interesting about this scene is Lu Yi scoffing at Jinxia’s playful jests and running away leaving.  

She thinks he’s feeling called out for enjoying Zhai Lanye’s attention, but this is about the time Lu Yi starts a very, very long game of “Notice me, kouhai.”  Silly Jinxia, he’s busy trying to sort out his feelings over a certain cheeky, clever subordinate who keeps slapping him with backhanded compliments.  Who has time to notice some random boat lady.  Pffftt.  Also, she just plays a pipa, MEH.  WRONG INSTRUMENT, NEXT.   唯有琴音深入我心  SPOILERS.  NEXT.

Don’t spoil her fun, Da Yang.  Huehue.

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The guy in jail who sort of stole the money but returned it later to be stolen again is unceremoniously murdered because apparently nobody guards anybody well in these jails.  Just two points here, one, we Lu Yi finds out Jinxia is scared of ghosts.  Two, Lu Yi leaves finding cause of death to Jinxia. 

The official suggests just closing up the case as suicide, but Lu Yi asks, “Are you trying to teach me how to do my job, or are you shirking your duties?”  LOL.  Lu Yi frequently asks these “neither option looks appealing” trap questions.   And this, this part of you, Lu Yi, is what makes you so unlovable to the general populace.

Jinxia then makes an interesting comment, “He just bullies the weak and fears the strong.”  Again, while their relationship has improved immensely, to the point that Jinxia knows she can mess with him a little, she’s still not entirely warmed up to him (with good reason).  She hasn’t had enough time to observe that Lu Yi demands quality work from all those around him and isn’t one to half-ass anything or to go easy on anyone.  

________

Jinxia, not overly satisfied with Lu Yi’s treatment of others, takes the opportunity to get back at him again.  She tells her nasty maggot story over lunch.

The fun part about this is Lu Yi catches on immediately to what she’s trying to do, but due to his reserved nature, he simply does nothing to stop her and suffers through it.

And just. slowly.  gets.

more. and more.

grossed out.  Cen Fu’s not even eating and he’s grossed out.  

Cen Fu, you traitor.  Don’t leave me here with her.

You win this round, Jinxia.  And Lu Yi, once again, eats a lot of nothing.  Poor boi’s going to starve around you, Jinxia.  So cute.  His squeamishness adds to his cute factor, contrasted against his ruthless Jinyiwei identity.

Jinxia celebrates her petty victory for a brief moment, before Da Yang points out the flaw in her plot.

It is a pyrrhic victory.  Jinxia has managed to make the whole table nauseous with her maggot story, including herself.  Was it werth, Jinxia.  WAS IT WERTH.

Last amusing observation:  Yang dad is totally unfazed through the whole thing and happily continues eating.  :DDD

______

Just to recap, we’ve gotten far enough in the relationship that on the professional front of their job, they’ve practically synchronized.  Human relations-wise, though, Lu Yi has only just begun realizing he rather enjoys Jinxia’s company, and despite some unpalatable habits, his heart’s started  to skip a few beats around her.  Meanwhile, Jinxia’s still on the fence.  Lu Yi’s reticence makes it hard to understand his motives and he feels no need to explain himself all that often, if at all.  Subconsciously, though, Jinxia has already realized Lu Yi for whatever reason opens himself up to mutual two-way pranking and has taken full advantage of this.