Each Tucked String Tells

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From The Grey Lashes

The bell for the secret passage rang, and then rang again before Mei Changsu was done levering himself to his feet and walking steadily to the door. He was already frowning at that, because even in the heights of his worst tempers it was not like Prince Jing to be impolite to those who could not afford to take offence; this habit he had learned in youth and adhered to strictly. Besides this Mei Changsu he could think of no reason why Prince Jing might require him at this time. Certain matters were afoot, of course, but it was most unlikely that they would have come to the prince’s attention yet.

He closed the doors behind him and descended the stairs, but had to stop, catching himself on the wall, when he saw Jingyan sitting slumped in the corner with his fists clenched and his shoulders shaking. “Your highness?” Mei Changsu said, as calmly as he could, which was very calmly.

Prince Jing looked up at the sound of his voice. The look on his face when he saw Mei Changsu was as of a man whose innards had just been torn open.

Nirvana in Fire

I thought I had an empty weekend of nothing stretching ahead of me, but I finally caved to the entreaties of the at least seven people who have recommended nirvana in fire to me and you’re right, this is everything I love, it’s IDENTITY PORN and TRAGIC PASTS(/PRESENTS/FUTURES) and POLITICS and WARRIOR PRINCESSES and CHILDHOOD BETROTHALS and AMAZING COSTUMES and a SLYTHERIN SCHEMER PROTAGONIST and REVENGE and SO MUCH LOYALTY KINK and I’m only on episode 4 of 54 (jfc) but I can already tell that I live here now and I’m going to let this show punch me repeatedly in the heart and/or kidneys by making me love people and then killing them. like. I am already braced for it. everyone I love will either die OR be left sobbing on their knees in a pile of artfully-draped expensive fabric because someone else has died. 

In a happier universe, I like to think that when Jingyan turns twenty, Consort Jing gently suggests that, although he should absolutely wear whatever makes him happy in his leisure time, maybe he should change to a more mature hairstyle when he’s around court. And Jingyan’s never really thought about it, but when she mentions it, is like “!! If Mother thinks it’s best!” and starts wearing his hair up all the time. Prince Qi compliments him, but it’s his older bro, so ofc he does. No one else comments and Jingyan just carries on with business.

And Xiao Shu’s away on some campaign, so Jingyan forgets about the Thing he has for sweeping Jingyan’s hair over his shoulder for access to his neck.

Then, ofc, Xiao Shu gets back, sees Jingyan and just stares, internally all RED FLAG RED FLAG, because WHICH IS THE MORE PRESSING ISSUE –Jingyan’s neck being RIGHT THERE AND FREELY-ACCESSIBLE or also out for EVERYONE TO SEE? (FOR WEEKS. WITHOUT HIM AROUND.) While Jingyan is like “..What? Does it look weird? It looks weird, doesn’t it.”

I can image Jingyan being a good-looking but no more than average child, then coming out of an incredibly awkward (only-my-mom-would-tell-me-i’m-pretty level awkward) teenage growspurt looking like the Gods themselves painted him. And then his voice drops.

Cue Xiao Shu suddenly realising that the dorky water buffalo he’d been teasing is actually FUCKING HOTTER THAN A THOUSAND SUNS. And also noticing all the other people dropping their jaws or walking into things at the sight of Jingyan. Of course Jingyan has no idea and is annoyed by Xiao Shu’s repeated attempts to cover him up (including buying him one of those fancy veiled hats, “for against the sun”). The worst is that when Jingyan reprimands Xiao Shu for trying to saveguard his virtue, he uses just this tone of voice that makes Xiao Shu’s knees go weak and it’s just so unfair.

At some point they get drunk on some wine confiscated from Yujin (who even at that young age was decidedly Up To No Good) and one thing leads to another and Xiao Shu’s life is simulatenously a million times better and a million times worse because now instead of imagining improper things about Jingyan every time he sees him, he remembers them.

When he’s out with LS, girls start batting their lashes at him. He probably doesn’t notice and keeps on being unfailingly Sincere and Polite when interacting with his flirty fanclub, who find this irresistibly charming. He gains a Reputation and become some kind of sensation. There and poems and ballads and (let’s be real) thinly veiled self-insert trash romance novels featuring him. When LC finds out he puts him on top of the Lang Ya Gentlemen Listings just to troll LS. 

In any case, I feel like at some point during all this, the Emperor sees Jingyan’s new hairstyle/hears about all the goings on, and says to Lin Xie, who happens to be next to him at the time: “Which reminds me - Jingyan’s of age, it’s high time to start thinking about getting him a wife. Do you have any suggestions? Given his current popularity, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding willing parties.” And Lin Shu, who also happens to be following along on his dad’s other side, is outwardly like:

Doesn’t miss a beat, even manages to suggest a candidate or two. But inwardly, he’s doing the Lin Shu version of:

(Not gonna lie to you, just wanted an excuse to use that picture, because I will never pass up an opportunity to use that picture.) Once Lin Shu oh shits himself out of the Palace, he goes home and starts a set of little wooden tablets to represent all of the possible marriage candidates, and one by one, starts working to disqualify them as unsuitable. It’s not long before it becomes general knowledge that putting your daughter forward as a candidate for Prince Jing’s consort is a 100% failsafe way to get all your dirty laundry not only aired, but plastered all over the city and rubbed in the Emperor’s face. 

And instead of Mei Changsu’s identity, The Thing That Everyone Except Jingyan Knows becomes Lin Shu’s raging jealousy.

Hilariously, there is actually an entire legit, canon Lang Ya List of Pretty People in the novel XD. Note also that the criteria only include celibacy, not virginity.

And there is also a Lang Ya List of Most Desirable Bachelors. And as far as I know, there is nothing mentioned about the exclusivity of these lists so Jingyan can definitely be the Prettiest Bachelor of all the kingdom (our baby deer is such a Disney princess).

BUT LS MEICHANGSU-ING THE POTENTIAL CANDIDATES!!! OMG LIN CHEN CROSSDRESSING IN THE NAME OF LOVE XD

The only logical way out of this is for Jingyan to become a monk or something until the Emperor dies so he can adopt Lin Shu has his Prince Consort (they say that on the day of their bethrothal, Lin Shu was veiled not out of respect of customs but because his smug “cat got the cream” face was plain grotesque to behold).

Prince Qi just face-palms endlessly but as the brand-new Emperor, he can at least take comfort in the fact that his brother’s marriage has given a boost to both the tourism industry and the economy (by way of sales of a certain type of literature skyrocketing)…

YES GOOD but LS conveniently forgot the fact that Lin Chen is the trolliest troll ever to troll, and this is Lin Chen who famously LOVES PRETTY PEOPLE. 

So in the process of fake competing for JY’s hand he actually does grow fond of this adorable baby deer prince. Cue keeping up the appearances for waaaaaay longer than he could have (probably original plan was WIN/Sabotage the competition then reveal his ID and throw the whole thing into chaos). Like he would go along with the betrothal (Emperor and Prince Qi both make pinched expressions but a deal’s a deal) and like request to spend time with his future husband to get to know him~~~ They take long walks in gardens and he gets to feed JY sweets while sitting practically in his lap, internally cackling madly at LS.

Meanwhile LS is frothing at the mouth going YOU TRAITOR KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!!!!! JY of course knows LC isn’t gonna actually marry him and it’s all an act, so he’s friendly and courteous and wonders if all Jianghu bros are So Affectionate. 

Years later after LS and JY have been mostly happily married a while, LC visit and still calls JY 夫君 while dramatically decrying that they should just elope into the Jianghu. An entire wing of their manor has to be remodelled as a result. 

At some point someone suggests to adapt a play (”and wouldn’t Prince Jing fit the part of the beautiful prince just perfectly?”) and that’s when Lin Shu goes to have a “talk” with Lin Chen…

Afterwards, the series became infamous for the last-minute plot-twist in which it was revealed that the noble wandered was the villain all along and that the fire-demon had actually been trying to protect the prince from his evil schemes.

Okay, so–what if, at some point say midway through the series? at some point where he’s suspecting that MCS is LS–Jingyan is struck on the head and gets amnesia. Specifically a type of amnesia where he doesn’t know who he is or what the hell is going on, and he doesn’t remember who people are when he sees them, but he does recognize them in some sense–he still has the emotional response.

When he sees the Emperor, anger, hurt, betrayal, and mistrust. When he sees Prince Yu, contempt. When he sees the Crown Prince…also contempt. When he sees his mother, trust, affection, respect, filial reverence.

And when he sees MCS: uncertainty, sure. And doubt. But under that, love, and trust, and fondness, all tied together with a terrible fear of losing him.

And he can’t understand–like, he learns who people are, and he mostly feels the appropriate emotions for them. But with MCS–the guy’s his strategist?? okay, fine, but–JY loves him, he knows he does, he trusts him, why is he so distant?

And he’s a lot more open than JY was, because even when he’s told the story, even when he’s shaken and horrified by it, he doesn’t carry it in his bones the way he did before he was struck with amnesia. And he has no idea of the context of his feelings for MCS, he doesn’t know that he suspects that MCS is someone he loved before, all he’s got is the love and the fear. And he can’t understand why MCS is so distant to him, and it hurts and it shows, and MCS is just sitting there going oh god oh god oh god–because it always hurt to be distant to jy before, but now every time JY looks almost like MCS just stabbed him, and: he doesn’t know how he can do this, how to carry on, he just doesn’t.

MCS would be there, going like--he’ll never remember me, he’ll never--and he’d sit there, telling himself it’s for the best, telling himself Jingyan’ll be better off that way. but god it would hurt.

And then--I don’t think he’d try to stop LC from curing JY, not when his being at top function is so important. But he’d be like, Don’t try to make him remember me.

Lin Chen: Fuck that shit. >:(

I actually…. would put Zhen Ping as the “hitter” and Fei Liu as the thief?

For a few reasons - yes, Fei Liu is their muscle, but Mei Changsu uses him more for…kind of subtle games - sneaking into Marquis Ning’s armory and cutting all the bowstrings, giving Tingshen the golden armour as if it’s from him (bypassing the inappropriateness of that gift for a former slave)

his temperment and backstory actually kind of matches Parker’s

(stealing flowers from everyone’s gardens! If Parker liked flowers that would be a Parker thing to do)

when they had to take out all the swordsmen Zhuo brought in to harry the Imperial Guards, they called in Zhen Ping and he took all ten of them out in a day

Zhen Ping JUMPED ONTO THE WALL, WITHSTOOD A RAIN OF ARROWS, PUSHED ALL THE OIL JARS ONTO THE BATTERING RAM AND DIDN’T DIE

Zhen Ping isn’t on the Langya List - on purpose, I think - and we never see him spar with Fei Liu

but honestly?

I would be very much surprised if he wasn’t able to hold his own against Fei Liu at least

and the Leverage writers always talk about how Parker was at least as dangerous as Eliot

warning:you’re going to die of alcohol poisoning five episodes in. but what a glorious death it would be!

so, drink every time when:

- somebody comments on mei changsu’s frail body and fragile heatlh; - somebody drapes mcs in a cloak or blanket (double shot if it’s an enemy); - somebody tucks mcs into bed; - mcs coughs up blood in a suspiciously plot-appropriate moment; - mcs visits his fallen enemies to gloat; - MCS BLATANTLY LIES TO HIS LOVED ONES; - meng zhi says ‘i don’t understand, explain this to me’; - jingrui looks devastated and confused; - yujin saunters through Tense Intrigue, oblivious and happy; - jingyan looks very sad; - jingyan almost figures mcs’ true identity, but not quite; - jingyan remembers xiao-shu and is sad; - crown prince behaves like a tool; - prince yu condescends to banruo; - prince yu and crown prince squabble in front of the throne, demonstrating while exactly the emperor is always throwing paperweights; - consort jing does something nice and humble but it’s actually a part of a complicated plan; - the emperor throws a tantrum (or a cup); - the emperor utters a creepy little ‘gotcha’ laughter; - consort yue manipulates the emperor in some very obvious way; - somebody’s very polite and reverent to their mother; - SURPRISE FLYING NINJAS; - li gang and zhen ping look at each other in despair like the world’s most overwhelmed, harried married couple; - physician yan is very cranky; - nihuang does something badass and military; - mu qing does something completely inappropriate but is too adorable for anybody to get offended; - lin chen harrasses fei liu; - fei liu flies to the roof; - mei changsu is a terrible role model for fei liu; - lin chen is gleefully dickish to mcs, and mcs lets him have it right back; - xia jiang realizes he’s been outsmarted; - YOU CAN’T TELL XIA CHUN AND XIA QIU APART (seriously, tell me it wasn’t just me); - princess liyang is very scary; - lie zhanying looks like he’s not paid enough for this shit (he’s not paid enough for this shit); - a really questionable cgi battle flashback is played; - BODYGUARDS FOR EVERYBODY.

you know what i find hilarious? count monte-cristo at least stopped to reward a couple of friends who were nice to him before the whole revenge spree, but as mcs-ls is busy with the matters of state and everything, the only nice thing he does is giving pretty much EVERYBODY he either likes or uses unfairly secret bodyguards.

bodyguards here! bodyguards there! bodyguards everywhere! you could make a drinking game out of every occurrence where some poor secondary character gets heavily guarded without their knowledge.

i kind of low-key want a fic about, idk, xie bi getting robbed by some random dude, and then jiangzuo alliance comes down on the poor robber like a ton of bricks. and he’s just like - what? why? WHY DID THIS HAPPEN.

So there was a deleted scene from episode 21, where Jingyan was teaching Ting Sheng archery (more of correcting his form). Here are some things from that scene my rusty Chinese was able to pick up:

* Jingyan hired a tutor to teach him

* JY praises him for being able to keep up wt his lessons! Proud papa!JY <3

* So Ting Sheng likes reading military books! (I swear, he’s like a LSxJY lovechild)

* JY told TS to look to him anytime TS has a question or if there’s anything he doesn’t understand. i’m in love wt papa!JY <3

* TS tells him he has no problem with tutor’s lessons but there are some questions in MCS’ tests that he can’t answer (understand?), so maybe he’d go to JY for those. I think Feiliu delivers test papers MCS made to TS? 

* JY is surprised MCS has been tutoring in secret TS. Can anyone remember when MCS told JY to send TS over to his place to personally tutor the kid?

I HAVE SO MANY NOTES FROM EPISODES 51-54, GUYS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. orz

EP 51/52 * MCS goes to tell JY he can’t return to being LS, or be by JY’s side * JY gets mad/upset - why not? If they overturn the case– * MCS argues he’s unrecognisable as LS, it’ll make ppl suspicious, it’s okay, he doesn’t need to be LS after 13 years as MCS, JY can’t have a manipulative schemer like SZ by his side or it will detract from his reputation * JY doesn’t get the chance to argue bc Liyang and JR show up with XY’s confession

[JY tells Liyang once the first time she comes and again after she leaves & returns to treat him and Sir Su as one - Liyang & JR both clearly have suspicions about MCS’s identity after the second time]

* After they leave for the second time, MCS asks JY for a favour - to be allowed to attend court for the reveal - & JY loses it

* “Your Highness? WHAT Your Highness?” Both v emotional in this scene. How could XS think JY would ever deny him this, when he has more right to be there than anyone?

“Even if I listen to you, not revealing your identity as Lin Shu, do you have to be MCS even in front of me?” “JY.” “Once this is all over, do you plan to leave the capital?”

* lie about returning in 4-5 years - I’m tired after 13 years, you have bright minds to advise you, can’t you let me take a break? Let me roam, I’ll come back, our friendship and fraternity isn’t so frail as to break if we don’t see each other, right?

JY calls him on BS - “XS, tell me the truth. Is your illness getting better?

* MCS obfuscates, says doubtful he’ll ever fully recover, will always just be a weak scholar - jokes that he will never again be able to beat JY in a fight

* JY laughs, but his eyes look sad - prob knows XS enough to know he’s still being bullshitted/deliberately sidetracked

MCS: What are you smiling about? JY: you’re the one with the advantage - even if you hit me, I wouldn’t dare hit you back. MCS: You’re the crown prince now, if I hit you, I’d be asking for a death sentence. JY: /laughs but eyes are teary/

[bit with TS - they go to see him, then watch him practice his archery while they discuss his future, JY says he’ll adopt him so that he can become a scholar but won’t tell him about his parentage, MCS agrees]

MCS: if there isn’t anything happening these next few days, please have him come to see me more often. After all, I have enough free time at home to teach him a little more.

JY: You shouldn’t overexert yourself. On the day of the banquet, we can’t let our guard down, even for a moment. Will you be OK? /serious

MCS: Don’t worry. All these years, I have been waiting for this moment. Even if I die, I will see this through.

JY: :( /sighs/ Come with me. I want to show you something.

[they go back inside, JY hands MCS the box with the pearl inside]

MCS: What is it? JY: Open it & you’ll see. MCS: /grins, opens box/ /serious & moved expression, probably trying not to cry/

[flashback to when he asked for the pearl - JY said "fine, I’ll try”, due to be gone at Donghai for at least half a year.]

MCS: /closes box, expression still serious/ /meets JY’s eyes, long silence, then turns to leave/ JY: Ah! MCS: /stops, doesn’t turn around/ JY: Aren’t you going to say anything? MCS: /turns, gestures with box/ You owe me this. /smirk/ JY: /SIGH/ :/ MCS: /leaves/ JY: /serious face/ MCS, offscreen: Thanks! JY: /exasperated look to the side/