Sky and stars✨️

He does not hide his identity as a husband, but he is subtle about it.

He tries to show his relationship to Changyu through actions, and subtle ways of caring. He is a devoted husband behind closed doors, but in public he tries to be subtle.

However whenever he feels a "danger" approaching he will uses possessive determiner (my, her)

First example is when she is injured and he finds her in the snow. She needs medical help. The old woman says I cant help her as I am blind and there is no woman. At that point he is still hiding/protecting Changyu from his identity. But danger (death) is imminent so he uses his identity to help her and save her.

There is another case where he will uses it possessive determiner.

Whenever he feels that someone, a man, is too close to his wife he will use "My wife" as a weapon.

We saw it in yesterday episodes when Wen Kan said "I can protect her". Xie Zheng does not tolerate him speaking like that about his wife, so he uses the card "my wife"

He is showing proudly and reminding him his place. He is the husband, and Wen Kan is just a colleague. That side of possessiveness often comes out around Wen Kan. Remember in Lin'An when they met and he told not him not to fancy his wife.

In today episode, we saw that he was keeping quiet. Sitting calmly next to Changyu, reminding people of his identity as a husband subtly. However when her aide is like I admire you, I'll always follow you, lets drink, he cannot stand it anymore.

Xie Zheng is stepping in, not only because she is already drunk, but also because he can feel that the aide's feelings are not platonic. He needs to remind people that she is his wife. And not to step in.

He knows that Changyu does not want him to physically hurt people (the butcher in Lin'an) as it could have bad consequences for him.

no matter what you say, i will agree to it. i want to stay with you.

We've got beautiful man sheds one lonely tear upon seeing his mother in his dream:

Beautiful man returns home with warm light and snow when FL was distraught after thinking he had left:

Big, beautiful, strong man needs to have his eyes wiped because of the big scary smoke:

Beautiful man in domestic fits with forearms exposed:

A beauty writing by candlelight:

Big fearsome general carries around tiny baby sister:

A sickly beauty:

Pretty princess in the tower with her animal companion:

Sexual tension showing the characters are fully aware of each other's bodies without showing lots of skin (although I would not be mad if the director made ZLH show more skin to further his artistic vision):

Beautiful man getting angry when wife is endangered:

190 cm man with broad shoulders and a trail of blood of god knows how many people looking like baby girl while looking up at FL like she's the holy mother:

This work of art:

A reminder that he is a deadly (and bloodied) general for our more primal instincts:

Anyway, the list goes on and on (but I cannot because of image limits).

Bonus:

I know where I come from (mini dramas)/which side my bread is buttered on; ladies love a hot psycho in fur with fabulous hair:

This is the first time he's showed her, in the most visceral way imaginable, the depth of his feelings for her. He's jealous, angry, and lashing out! He can't believe that she would be so accepting of their separation, doubting whether he even means anything to her. And so, like an idiot, his jealousy pushes him to the edge when he forces a kiss on her, trying to imprint himself to her memory.

The way he callously wipes his lips off blood after she slaps him. And his look of disdain?? That arrogance of wounded pride of a thwarted lover?? She has never seen this side of him! This is the same man who felt too shy and flustered to look at her naked ankles. To see him here, now, it's like looking at a stranger. The look of hurt, confusion, and betrayal says it all. In that minute, she doesn't recognize her lover.

Changyu hasn't been the best judge of character. She trusted a man for 10 years, and he betrayed her in the worst way possible. So her hurt and confusion are understandable. Had it been under different circumstances, Xie Zheng would have probably handled this better. But boy has decided to put his foot in it and be a possessive idiot and kiss away her doubts, and it's no wonder that shit doesn't work!

We've got beautiful man sheds one lonely tear upon seeing his mother in his dream:

Beautiful man returns home with warm light and snow when FL was distraught after thinking he had left:

Big, beautiful, strong man needs to have his eyes wiped because of the big scary smoke:

Beautiful man in domestic fits with forearms exposed:

A beauty writing by candlelight:

Big fearsome general carries around tiny baby sister:

A sickly beauty:

Pretty princess in the tower with her animal companion:

Sexual tension showing the characters are fully aware of each other's bodies without showing lots of skin (although I would not be mad if the director made ZLH show more skin to further his artistic vision):

Beautiful man getting angry when wife is endangered:

190 cm man with broad shoulders and a trail of blood of god knows how many people looking like baby girl while looking up at FL like she's the holy mother:

This work of art:

A reminder that he is a deadly (and bloodied) general for our more primal instincts:

Anyway, the list goes on and on (but I cannot because of image limits).

Bonus:

I know where I come from (mini dramas)/which side my bread is buttered on; ladies love a hot psycho in fur with fabulous hair:

who is saved by a pig butcher

Wait you say, "That's not a princess, he has a shiv"

Princesses need shivs sometimes due to the circumstances and such, does not disqualify you from being a princess. He's a dainty princess that can't eat intestines

"Isn't he like... a solider or something?"

Princesses have careers sometimes, stop being silly. Anyway, now the pretty princess and the pig butcher are going to get married

"He's half of my soul, as the poets say" this, "Name one hero who was happy" that...

But like, can we talk about how beautifully tragic and tragically beautiful some of the original quotes from the Iliad are too?? And these are not even all of them!

"Oh, how I wish that neither the Trojans nor the Achaeans could escape death! If only the two of us survived, so that we could bring down the sacred walls of Troy together, the two of us alone..."

"But his mother hadn't told him about the tragic event yet; he wasn't still aware that the most beloved [philtatos] of all his comrades had died."

"As Achilles heard those words [about Patroclus' death], a dark, deadly cloud of anguish engulfed him; with both hands he grabbed plenty of dust from the earth, letting it fall upon his head and smear his marvelous face and clothes. He flopped down onto the ground, disfiguring his body with his hands, tearing the locks of hair out of his head. [...]

Meanwhile, Antilochus sobbed and cried silently, holding tightly still the hands of weeping Achilles, preventing him from grabbing a blade and slicing his own throat.

He let out a heart-wrenching cry, so loud that his mother heard him from the bottom of the ocean."

"What sweetness, what kind of relief is left for me, if my dear Patroclus is no more, him whom I cherished more than all my comrades, whom I valued as my own life, loved as my own soul? I have lost him. [...] And now I shall go find that killer [Hector], the man who deprived me of my dear life."

"She found her beloved son laying down with his arms wrapped around Patroclus' body, crying bitterly. And so did many other companions weep around him."

"You shall all die a bitter death by my hand, each one of you shall pay for what you did to Patroclus, killing him by the ships while I was not there."

"But I will never forget Patroclus, not as long as I live, not as long as I'm steady on my limbs. And even in death, in the realm of Hades where the dead are forgotten, the memory of my beloved comrade will live for all eternity."

[Patroclus' ghost appears to Achilles in a dream]

"You're sleeping, Achilles: have you forgotten about me? You cherished me while I was alive; are you going to neglect me now that I'm dead? [...] Give me your hand, I beg you. For once my body is properly burned, I shall no more come back from the realm of Hades. No more shall we take sweet counsel as we did when I was alive, the two of us alone, away from our comrades. A terrible Fate has caught me, one I was predestined to since birth, and it will soon be your turn to fulfill your destiny, and die by the walls of Troy. So I am asking just one more thing of you, I beg you, grant my wish: don't let my bones be separated from yours, Achilles. Let them rest together, just as we grew up together in your house [...] I would like one single urn to bring together my ashes and yours; the golden urn your mother gave you."

[And Achilles replies]

"Why, my beloved soul, have you come to me, why are you giving me such orders? Of course, I'll obey, I will do everything you wish. But now, come here, come closer to me. Let me hold you: and let us forget about our sorrows by holding each other, at least for a short while.

Thus he spoke, and immediately tried to reach out to him: but he couldn't. The soul slipped away from his grasp, screeching and disappearing back inside the earth, dissolving into smoke. Achilles' hands clasped involuntarily, and he stood up, full of surprise and pain. He felt the urge to cry again."

So, phìle is the feminine form of the adjective phìlos (the word where philtatos comes from), which obviously means "dear", "beloved": but by extension, in the Homeric language especially, it means "something that belongs to someone". Which actually makes sense because it's basically implied that if something belongs to someone, it has to be something dear to them. And this is mostly used with body parts (like, instead of saying "my hands", in Homer you'd find something along "the dear hands" and so on.)

And that's where kephalè comes in! The word literally means "head". In the poem there's a lot of talking about heads: chopped heads, disfigured heads, pierced heads, and so on. But many times, metaphorically, it can also mean "body" or "life". Why? Because, since the head is the most important part of one's body, it is the essential part in order to live. And of course it's "dear" to you, because otherwise you'd be dead.

So what happens if you put the two words together? You basically get an affectionate form of address, which could be translated to "my dear head", but most precisely "my dear life".

In the Iliad, when Achilles learns of Patroclus' death, he states to have loved him "like his own head" (kephalè is the word he uses), and right after, he refers to Hector as the man who killed his phìle kephalè...

Because the head is to the body what Patroclus is to Achilles: the most important and precious part of himself. And now that he's lost him, he feels as if Hector had killed a whole part of himself, the one that kept him alive. Because his head has been literally torn away from him.

Also in another passage he refers to Patroclus as ηθείη κεφαλή (hethèie kephalè), where hethèie basically means "sweet", "beloved", "worthy of honor". And once again the "head".

The man does not know from cheese. The man "ain't never seen no cheese but orange before" and "I showed ya list to the cheese lady so if it's wrong it's her fault ok?"

I am 80% sure she sent him there for a really specific bleu cheese, 40% sure he does not have the very specific bleu cheese, and 100% sure he's done with her shit.

Our flight is delayed.

Cheese man has been demanding payment because apparently he went like six hours out of his way and paid with his own money and between the cheese and price of gas, he is pretty sure he does not have enough money in his account for an Uber home.

The lady is FLABBERGASTED that he is demanding payment at all, as she was under the impression he was doing this for her out of the goodness of his heart.

"OR ELSE WHAT?"

"I'm gonna-? THE BABY SHOWER? MONICA CAN'T EVEN HAVE THIS CHEESE SHE'S PREGNANT!"

"The cheese lady asked if it was for someone because the mushrooms or whatever in the cheese are dangerous for the baby or something?? You wanna poison Monica?"

"WHY WOULD I LIE ABOUT THAT?"

"YEAH OF COURSE I GOT THE CHEESE, THATS WHY I DON'T GOT MONEY FOR UBER!"

"YEAH, GO TELL! GO TELL MOMMA I STOPPED YOUR STUPID ASS FROM KILLING MONICA OR THE BABY! FUCK!"

*hangs up phone*

*head in hands, borderline hyperventilating*

The man in the three piece suit is in the chair next to him. He waits a moment, then reaches into his carryon and pulls out an entire bottle of wine with the TSA pre check sticker on it, and taps cheese guy on the shoulder.

2. Cheese guy is crying a little about the cash and opening up about his problems. The cheese lady is his younger sister. Suit guy is being very generous with his Pinot Blanc. We are having a picnic/improv family therapy session.

3. This is apparently the latest in a long string of his sister asking for something and then flaking when he asks to be paid back. Started with paying him back only some of what he was owed, then claiming something she paid for him was of equal value when it was not, then recently telling him his memory is wrong and he said it was a gift or that he'd do it for free.

"Yeah, the specific thing of trying to convince you your memory is unreliable is called gaslighting and it's really fucked up." I say

"yeeeeah. The other stuff I forgave because she's never really had a good job so she can't pay me back all the time but at least she was making an effort y'know? But that was. That was over the line."

"If you haven't already, check on the rest of your family's finances. My brother started trying to gaslight everyone when he started stealing from our parents." Says Pinot Blanc.

4. Shiba Inu Lady has purchased a cheddar. Apparently, the dog's name is Donut, and he's her service dog because she's severely visually impaired.

"Oh, he's a guide dog?" Asks cheese guy.

"oh, no." She laughs. "He's too short, and the way my eyes are, it's easier for me to navigate with a cane. No, the problem I have is that some morally impaired people see the cane and think they can get away with stealing my bag or assaulting me because I wouldn't be able to give a description- which is wrong, but rather than deal with that I got Donut, and he helps me by howling at anyone who gets in my personal space and biting anyone who grabs me!"

"Uh." Says Kirigumi. "He's been staring at me do I need to back up or..?"

"Ohdear! No, no- He wasn't looking at you! He loves cheese but he knows he's not supposed to beg so he decided the way to deal with something he wants but can't have is to stare in the other direction."

"OKAY!" Says Kirigumi. "I'm wearing fox pajamas and thought like. He thought I was another dog or something."

"No, no- he doesn't care about dogs, and you get a warning before he goes for the calves. Very helpful, when I was living in Italy!"

"Oh what part? I have family in Tuscany." Says Pinot.

2. I know they're planning to continue because Pinot talked to the gate agent so he and cheese guy can sit together and talk about family drama and cheese.

3. Pinot has been teaching him about different types of cheese and how to enjoy them.

4. Cheese guy apparently repairs computers and other technology devices for a living and is currently doing the software version of scraping barnacles and other crap off Pinot'macbook.

Now that I've heard the word aloud, and they are an astrophysicist. Who correctly believes in being comfy as fuck on planes. They are also familar with the concept of a meet-cute and is rooting for them too.

Got to walk the nice lady and her Tactical Assault Shiba to her next gate because it was on the way out and talk for a bit. Donut is called that not because he is the color of a Donut (which he is) but because he likes to sleep curled up in a perfect circle. He has a sister who does the same thing named Bagel.

Lost track of Pinot and Cheeseguy for a bit but when I saw them again at Baggage claim, Cheeseguy was holding both their jackets, and Pinot was on the phone to his hotel about "Well do you have any rooms with TWO beds?". The rest of the call indicated that yes, there were rooms with two beds, but Readers, I Had A Moment.

:)