#chengli

Day 12 Firts Date

Hello!

I think this is the first time I’m talking about HC/SL (ChengLi..?). As a bit of a heads-up, I’m one of those people who ship them. Kinda. Semi-ship. LiTou is my main ship for SL’s character, but I’m definitely interested in ChengLi content, too. They very much cater to my personal aesthetics when it comes to fictional relationships.

In case anyone has a problem with this ship, please ignore this answer. There will be ChengLi content ahead.

“Did these characters interact in any way in the history of manhua? What did I miss?”

Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything. So far (with 320 published chapters), SL and HC haven’t directly interacted or shared any panels. As far as we know, this was the closest HC has come to know about SL (ch. 266, 267):

It’s unclear to us how much HT told HC about the situation other than that he needed muscle-related backup. Did he mention SL by the name? Did any bells ring in HC’s head at SL’s name? We also don’t know how in detail Qiu later told HC about what had happened. Did he tell about how unpredictable SL was? Was there a need for him to keep an eye on the situation since it looked like SL was on HT’s shitlist? Did HC learn SL’s name and thought to look into him and his family and possible affiliations? I would imagine in his line of work, you want to stay on top of things as much as possible. Being in the dark could backfire majorly. 

Also, I think it’s very likely SL knows about HC. He seems to be familiar enough with HT to know about his brother and most probably his influence and power in the underworld. Has he ever physically seen HC, though? Do SL’s superiors talk about him?

As you see, there isn’t a lot and most of it is just tossing out questions.

“Why do some people bring He Chen and She Li together?”

Lack of interaction has never stopped fans from shipping characters, and that is very much the case with ChengLi, too. Though, I can only speak for myself as to “why”. Everyone has individual, personal reasons for shipping ChengLi. They might be attracted to their potential dynamics or a headcanon version of their relationship. To me, all that is needed to ship something is that the thought of the characters together flips the bottom of my stomach in a certain way. Sometimes canon has very little if anything to do with that.

Personally, I’m attracted to “the mature authority vs. the immature brat” dynamics I get from ChengLi. There’s a dark vibe of HC overpowering SL and putting him in his place that really appeals to me. HC has this calm yet intimidating aura. He’s a mixture of roughness and danger but also tenderness and looking after what’s important to him.

In one of my previous answers, I talked about how I view SL as a sexual (and romantic) being. To me, he’s someone who looks for extremes in love as well as in everything else in life. I picture him being attracted to either controlling the relationship or being controlled by someone. With HC, I doubt he would just roll over and submit but I think he could find a certain kind of safety and security in HC overpowering him and taking control.

SL would still be his disturbing, twisted self but it kind of sends thrills down HC’s back and excites him. He never knows when he would wake up to a cold blade pressing against his pulsepoint and find SL hovering over him, his eyes glowing a little in the darkness. The sharp point would graze him a little when HC snatched SL by the wrist and manhandled him around, twisting SL’s arm painfully until he dropped the knife. A bit out of breath, SL would crane his neck to smirk at him. HC would loosen his hold a little but utilize his weight to pin SL against the mattress. His breath would be hot against the side of SL’s face - sharp wafts of whiskey in it - when he leaned down to mutter “fucking brat” in SL’s ear, his voice somewhere between amusement and affection.

Or when SL smells someone else’s perfume on HC and snarls at him and HC grabs SL’s jaw tightly and narrows his eyes at him in a warning. Or when SL snatches HC’s cigarette from between his lips to smoke it himself. Or when SL sometimes sits on the wide windowsill at night, wearing HC’s white dress shirt and smoking HC’s cigarettes, and HC quietly watches the way the pale moonbeams hit his platinum wisps. Or when SL is waiting for him when HC comes home and HC can’t tell whose blood SL has on his clothes.

...That’s basically why I’m personally attracted to the thought of them together. They’re both dark and dangerous but in different ways.

Hey!! Thank you! Bless you for the prompt!! @transweiying

Send me a dialogue and a ship

Jiang Cheng knew he had no right to hold his sister like this. They weren’t little kids anymore; if anyone walked in and saw Jiang YanLi with her head tenderly tucked under her brother’s chin, face flushed red from crying and even trembling slightly in her brother’s arms, no matter the fact that they were siblings, their conduct would be deemed inappropriate. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to move her off him; he didn’t want her to move. If it was up to him, he’d hold his sister close like this forever.

If it was up to him, he would have joined Wei WuXian in beating Jin ZiXuan up until his face was unrecognizable. If it was up to him, that peacock would sooner meet the end of his blade than have a chance to make his sister cry again. He wanted to make sure no one would ever dare to harm a hair on her head.

YanLi’s energy had depleted after the intense surge of emotions, and slowly she was letting her weight fall more and more on Jiang Cheng; with her shoulders no longer tense, she melted into the embrace.

“A-Cheng, thank you for what you did today, you and A-Xian…”

He shook his head; a stab of pain in his heart made him wince and press her closer to his chest as if that could stop it. Why would she thank him for doing something that was second nature to him? He hadn’t even helped! It was Wei WuXian that got to protect their sister’s honor… He had simply stepped in before the situation escalated.

He wanted to press a kiss to her forehead. Would that be too bold? He settled for resting his nose on her head, and as he spoke he let his lips brush her scalp, “we caused you trouble.”

This time it was her who shook her head, “I got myself into that situation. I was foolish to think…”

“Hey—" Jiang Cheng couldn’t take it any longer and stopped her, cradling her chin with two fingers and pushing her up to meet his face, “hey, nobody talks about my sister like that, especially not my sister herself,” he'd wanted to gently scold her, but with his voice a trembling thread away from breaking, it came out almost pathetic.

Her eyes were still shining with unshed tears, the rims red and puffy, but when she heard Jiang Cheng’s words, they seemed to light up the night before they formed into crescent moons as she let out a laugh; a hushed, soft laugh, like she was aware of how intimate a moment like this was.