Witch

千里之行，始于足下           - 道德经

[mao-xi]

Smol Meimei 🤏 Wuyong era

[dovesmei]

[jeusus]

Today's lesson covers a topic both ancient and controversial...

Same-S*x Dual Cultivation.

Xie Lian & Mu Qing: *Furiously taking notes*

--- Happy Pride, everyone!

[mags-grandiflora]

Guoshi be like: you can be gay, but don't do criminals

[deceasedcardinal]

[fuckyeahchinesegarden]

The snow-capped mountains glow like fire in the sunset.

[nyanqing]

also reuploading this thing i made for tiktok

[toowolfdelusion]

Having thoughts about Jun Wu's relationship with Xie Lian... One could say Jun Wu never really cared for Xie Lian himself and rather the idea of him, but I like to imagine Jun Wu did truly care about Xie Lian in his own twisted way, a sad desire for understanding and someone to share their pain with, someone who could empathize with him. Ironically, I'd say this could be a parallel to Hua Cheng, as both kinda use Xie Lian as kind of an "anchor", but unlike Hua Cheng, who doesn't need any other reason to live, ground his morals on or even move forward, being content with seeing Xie Lian happy on his own, Jun Wu's core issue is, deep down, internal to himself. Even if Xie Lian became a calamity and understood him, it wouldn't be enough, because no amount of allies could ever soothe his self loathing over breaking his own morals. Jun Wu needed to "forgive" himself, his Wuyong self, and to know it wasn't stupid to believe in people, not to have another corrupted "him" by his side.

What Jun Wu wanted was someone to confirm he had no other choice, that he was right in not believing in people, but what he needed was for someone to prove that his old ideals were right.

So in the end, Xie Lian did indeed save Jun Wu... Not by giving what he wanted, but instead by giving him what he needed.

[dovesmei]

[dovesmei]

[fuckyeahchinesegarden]

Traditional buildings scattered across China's countryside (photos by 野人一个人，KKZOO，黑鹤太傅)

[fuckyeahchinesegarden]

Cloud sea on wugongshan武功山, shangrao, jiangxi province, china

[dorky-kawa]

we don't talk enough about mei nianqing and what he was on when he strolled into xianle kingdom 800 years ago and proceeded to give himself a name that's honestly on the same level as hong hong'er/wuming naming himself hua cheng for xie lian.

buckle in for a quick lesson to comprehend the true extent of 2000+ years of yearning:

梅念卿 (mei nianqing) is the alias that guoshi made up in order to become the xianle guoshi. the character for the last name, 梅 (mei), means plum blossoms, and we will get back to it at the end.

念卿 (nianqing) is his chosen given name. the first character, 念 (nian), means "to miss [someone/something], "to yearn/pine, or long for."

for both of those definitions, 念 is most often used as 想念 and 思念

it's quite on the nose, but there aren't really any other interpretations for the first character. however, 卿 (qing) is where it gets super interesting. there are several common usages/meanings associated with the character 卿.

the first is used as a well-known form of address by an emperor towards a close lord or advisor—爱卿 . for those of you who have a bit of background in chinese, you might recognize 爱 as the character for love, but i do have to caution it doesn't have hold romantic suggestion in the typical historical usage (ie. non danmei historical setting). 爱卿 is really just a an affectionate way of referring to an emperor's subordinate that shows trust and closeness, like a very royally sophisticated "you're my bro" (in very, very layman term).

sometimes, in a variation, instead of 爱卿, the emperor will refer to the close subject as "_last name_ + 卿". so for mei nianqing's example, if mei had really been his real last name, jun wu might have once referred to mei nianqing as 梅卿 (mei qing).

on the other hand, the second usage is as an affectionate form of address between husband and wife—卿卿. calling someone in an english equivalent would be something like "dear" or "honey". supposedly, there's a related usage of 卿 that can be used between very good friends, but i have to stress that it's really, typically overwhelmingly romantic in nature.

bonus: the chinese idiom 卿卿我我 is used to describe very intimately affectionate behavior (PDA) between couples.

basically, the character 卿 is used as a way of referring to someone, with different usages referring to different types of "you". think of it like this: one is saying "hey, you [my trusted subordinate]". the other is "hey, you [my dear]".

so together, 念卿 (nianqing) means "to miss [you]". the clever thing about this, though, is that depending on the usage, it could either refer to mei nianqing missing jun wu or the other way around.

the second usage of 卿 (qing) is used equivalently, in both directions, between lovers/"very good" friends. think about how you and your partner can both call each other "dear" or "honey". so the missing 'you' in 念卿 could refer to either person in the relationship.

but for the first usage (爱卿), it is only used by an emperor/prince towards someone lower, so the person being missed must be mei nianqing, since mei nianqing couldn't use 爱卿 to refer to jun wu, who was royal. interestingly, this usage is more likely the intended one, in my opinion, because realistically mei nianqing and jun wu never confirmed that they acknowledged any feelings between them beyond prince-old friend/subordinate and mei nianqing seems lowkey in denial that he's been in a 2000+ year situationship with a ghost king.

"you're not like him [jun wu] in that sense, little highness" my 🏳️‍🌈 ass, but i digress.

now why would mei nianqing name himself something that essentially means to miss himself? it sounds a bit egogistical to assume jun wu misses him? well, maybe, even after wandering for so long, it's not so much a statement, but a silly, foolish hope he still holds that jun wu misses his 爱卿, his old follower and friend.

or, coming back to his chosen last name, 梅 (mei) means plum blossoms, and maybe it does represent jun wu in mei nianqing's heart. but 梅 (méi) is also a homophone of the word 没 (méi), which means "no," or "doesn't." they are homophones down to the same tone.

in which case, if you say his full name out loud together, 梅念卿 (mei nianqing) acutally reads '[i] don't miss you', so maybe guoshi's name was actually picked out of a self-deprecating scorn towards himself, because he knew he was never enough for his highness of wuyong, that he wasn't missed by his prince in the 2000+ years apart. so he chose a name that would remind himself of that everyday.

[mags-grandiflora]

This is very interesting to think about. Mei as plum does have the connotation of hope. The plum blossom is one of the Four Gentlemen and it's the first flower to bloom in the year, marking the end of winter and the transition into spring. It also carries the symbolism of endurance, persisting through difficulty.

We could also interpret the Qing as him missing who he was to Jun Wu, missing being his minister, missing being his close friend.

Honestly I want to know what he was on because he's the fussiest, most dramatic man and I adore him.

[dorky-kawa]

Guoshi is so fascinating because obviously we never get a POV from him, but even from his conversations with Xie Lian and with Jun Wu at the end, there seems to be such a distinct lack of self awareness about his entanglement with Jun Wu that doens't seem to be faked either. Guoshi seemed genuinely flabbergasted about Xie Lian's homosexuality. Mxtx didn't even write any subtext to suggest that Mei Nianqing saw any parallel in his own 2000 years worth of history with a Calamity Ghost King as he lectured Xie Lian about Hua Cheng. It is as if Guoshi really did spend 2000 years remembering but never confronting any of his history.

But on the other hand, even though it's never addressed explicitly, the connections and subtext/implications about Jun Wu and Mei Nianqing are all there for the readers and not that subtle either: Jun Wu could've found and killed Mei Nianqing all those years if he really wanted to (and he still didn't harm Mei Nianqing in the final showdown), whereas Mei Nianqing chose to stay with Jun Wu after he got sealed. In the end, they talked about Wuyong's end and their old friends and past rights and wrong, but they still never really talked about just the two of them. They've lived so long, there's no one who knows the other as completely as Guoshi and Jun Wu (both of which aren't even their real names). There are so much weight, history, and feelings between the two of them. I don't know how else to intrepret their relationship.

I would give anything to poke inside Guoshi's brain and see how he really sees/understands himself and his relationship with Jun Wu (or how deep the denial runs).

[dorky-kawa]

we don't talk enough about mei nianqing and what he was on when he strolled into xianle kingdom 800 years ago and proceeded to give himself a name that's honestly on the same level as hong hong'er/wuming naming himself hua cheng for xie lian.

buckle in for a quick lesson to comprehend the true extent of 2000+ years of yearning:

梅念卿 (mei nianqing) is the alias that guoshi made up in order to become the xianle guoshi. the character for the last name, 梅 (mei), means plum blossoms, and we will get back to it at the end.

念卿 (nianqing) is his chosen given name. the first character, 念 (nian), means "to miss [someone/something], "to yearn/pine, or long for."

for both of those definitions, 念 is most often used as 想念 and 思念

it's quite on the nose, but there aren't really any other interpretations for the first character. however, 卿 (qing) is where it gets super interesting. there are several common usages/meanings associated with the character 卿.

the first is used as a well-known form of address by an emperor towards a close lord or advisor—爱卿 . for those of you who have a bit of background in chinese, you might recognize 爱 as the character for love, but i do have to caution it doesn't have hold romantic suggestion in the typical historical usage (ie. non danmei historical setting). 爱卿 is really just a an affectionate way of referring to an emperor's subordinate that shows trust and closeness, like a very royally sophisticated "you're my bro" (in very, very layman term).

sometimes, in a variation, instead of 爱卿, the emperor will refer to the close subject as "_last name_ + 卿". so for mei nianqing's example, if mei had really been his real last name, jun wu might have once referred to mei nianqing as 梅卿 (mei qing).

on the other hand, the second usage is as an affectionate form of address between husband and wife—卿卿. calling someone in an english equivalent would be something like "dear" or "honey". supposedly, there's a related usage of 卿 that can be used between very good friends, but i have to stress that it's really, typically overwhelmingly romantic in nature.

bonus: the chinese idiom 卿卿我我 is used to describe very intimately affectionate behavior (PDA) between couples.

basically, the character 卿 is used as a way of referring to someone, with different usages referring to different types of "you". think of it like this: one is saying "hey, you [my trusted subordinate]". the other is "hey, you [my dear]".

so together, 念卿 (nianqing) means "to miss [you]". the clever thing about this, though, is that depending on the usage, it could either refer to mei nianqing missing jun wu or the other way around.

the second usage of 卿 (qing) is used equivalently, in both directions, between lovers/"very good" friends. think about how you and your partner can both call each other "dear" or "honey". so the missing 'you' in 念卿 could refer to either person in the relationship.

but for the first usage (爱卿), it is only used by an emperor/prince towards someone lower, so the person being missed must be mei nianqing, since mei nianqing couldn't use 爱卿 to refer to jun wu, who was royal. interestingly, this usage is more likely the intended one, in my opinion, because realistically mei nianqing and jun wu never confirmed that they acknowledged any feelings between them beyond prince-old friend/subordinate and mei nianqing seems lowkey in denial that he's been in a 2000+ year situationship with a ghost king.

"you're not like him [jun wu] in that sense, little highness" my 🏳️‍🌈 ass, but i digress.

now why would mei nianqing name himself something that essentially means to miss himself? it sounds a bit egogistical to assume jun wu misses him? well, maybe, even after wandering for so long, it's not so much a statement, but a silly, foolish hope he still holds that jun wu misses his 爱卿, his old follower and friend.

or, coming back to his chosen last name, 梅 (mei) means plum blossoms, and maybe it does represent jun wu in mei nianqing's heart. but 梅 (méi) is also a homophone of the word 没 (méi), which means "no," or "doesn't." they are homophones down to the same tone.

in which case, if you say his full name out loud together, 梅念卿 (mei nianqing) acutally reads '[i] don't miss you', so maybe guoshi's name was actually picked out of a self-deprecating scorn towards himself, because he knew he was never enough for his highness of wuyong, that he wasn't missed by his prince in the 2000+ years apart. so he chose a name that would remind himself of that everyday.

[jeusus]

First time sleeping in the same bed

[fuckyeahchinesegarden]

Wuyi Mountains, Fujian Province, China

[sitervlitoy]

[cmm] changgu on retirement

[sherbet-powder]

shizun (work in progress)

[bytedykes]

[ID: Sketch of Shen Qingqiu from Scum Villain, sitting with a book open on his lap. He holds it with one hand, and with his other adjusts the glasses he's wearing. They have a glasses chain. /end ID]