I swear to God, every time they switch to Jing’s narrative, it becomes some sort of cross between Gaskell and Bronte and I am here for it!
I loved the Frightful Fiancee showing up and life draining out of Jing’s eyes (because he’s terrified every time will be too much for XY and she will end it) but also XY is jealous, awwwww! The thing is, she is only truly in any measure a young woman around and because of Jing and this includes being jealous and vulnerable. I kinda love it.
Oblivious friend toasts to the “happy couple” and I love that he refuses to drink and when evil fiancee says she will drink for him, fights her for the cup. I think he’s gonna embroider a banner, “I don’t want you” and carry it around.
He’s so fed up he gets up to leave and she’s clutching. Good Lord, lady, come on!
He literally shoves her off. At Jing level of niceness and manners, it’s equivalent of punching her in the face while calling her a dozen filthy words. Heh.
The more it goes on, the clearer the female-coding on his character becomes. Not just that all his issues are family rivalry related inner house stuff or that he’s the nice one winning the jaded/damaged OTP through devotion and niceness but even here with the fiancee. The narrative of someone who does not want the arranged partner who keeps chasing them is usually given to women; who also cannot directly tell the other party to fuck off and have to politely navigate while giving public hints and perhaps in private being clearer, but still bound to be polite and not go beyond certain boundaries set by arbitrary society however dumb they may be.
His lines are 100% what a FL would say and navigate.
This said, I continue to be impressed how he doesn’t come across as in the least feminine. It’s quite a balancing act. But so much of this narrative is so well done. Just like her three suitors are reflections of parts of XY’s self and future potential paths. They all went through varieties of trauma and if Cang Xuan is a reflection of her potential darkest path and the damage of her damage, the Vamp Boy is her mirror - he is very much where she is now or at least in the beginning of the story, if it makes sense, and 17 is embodiment of hope that you can go through horror and emerge into hope - choosing him is ultimately choosing the possibility of her best self. I love that so much.
izzy806
amandla
ellievsbear
pixelskylines
germansingergirl
gummygunk
