#dihua

We're back!

dihua exchange is back and will be running this year! We're a friendly ship-based gift exchange, now running on Ao3, created to celebrate our favorite pairing of Di Feisheng and Li Lianhua! Sign-ups open February 15th, 2026 and works will be due on April 4th, 2026.

Want to participate but don’t write or draw? Don't worry, in addition to fanfiction and fanart we also accept edits/gifsets, fmvs, and any combination of the above. Whatever you can make, we want to see it!

Check out the event collection, the FAQ, and the schedule to learn more about the event and don’t forget to follow @dihuaexchange for updates!

Well, the world's on fire and I'm stressed about a big surgery in just under two weeks, so I thought maybe I should post a WIP Wednesday for the first time since September, in the interests of bringing a little dihua banter and joy into everyone's lives.

So, enjoy this short excerpt from the dihua fishing fic (a collab with @greentealycheejelly and a sequel to my dihua anniversary fic set 2 years after the newlywed room).

**

Huli Jing barked excitedly and jumped down the steps, sprinting off in the direction Di Feisheng had indicated.

Xiangyi huffed out a laugh and shook his head as they followed her down the path along the river's edge. "Don't bring back an entire branch, Huli Jing," he called. "Sticks only this time."

Di Feisheng scoffed. "You think I couldn't throw it?" He tightened his grip on Xiangyi's hand to prove his mobility was fully restored.

"Of course you could," Xiangyi answered, squeezing his hand back to apologize for seeming to doubt him and for bringing up his momentary weakness at all. "And I'm certain you could even get it to spin the way she likes. It's the damage to the surrounding trees I'm worried about. Why don't you wait to knock down the entire forest until we have a more pressing need for firewood, hmm?"

"Fine. I'll wait," Di Feisheng agreed, matching the force of Xiangyi's grip exactly to say he was forgiven, and smiling as Xiangyi's thumb danced along his knuckles in thanks. "Until next week," he added with a smirk.

Di Feisheng x Li Lianhua + Text posts – part 2

- LI LIANHUA THE ABSOLUTE AUDACITY TO SAY THIS WHEN YOU LIE EVERY OTHER SENTENCE.

^ and that ain’t even all of them in these ten episodes 😭

- ooh Saintess gonna be in trouble~~ she’s yandere so it makes sense why she’d try and take out who Di Feisheng is obsessed with on any level.

- jokes aside this is actually quite sweet.

- aw look how proud Li Lianhua is that Fang Duobing is learning to be more deceitful.

- And hey now Fang Duobing is joining in with and supporting his SO’s other hobby; brazenly lying to peoples faces about Li Lianhua.

- new mystery time! And I’m intrigued. I think women in cdramas should just avoid marriage altogether, too much of a risk they end up as a case for someone to investigate! My current inkling is that the servant has something to do with it.

Holy Costume Changes, Batman!

(Mysterious Lotus Casebook, 莲花楼, episode 11)

At Cailan Manor

We start off this episode with Di Feisheng in this purple and deep magenta outfit with white piping and crisscrossing tabards, Fang Duobing in a silver/grey and light blue ensemble with medium blue lapels and belt over a robe with crossed lighter blue lapels, and Li Lianhua in a moss green robe with a dark green belt and over-robe. All have white underrobes and Di Feisheng has a silver/grey middle robe. Pretty standard outfits for all three of them at this point in the series.

In Town

OK, this isn't REALLY a costume change, but by the time they've gone to town to seek lunch (and secrets), Li Lianhua has decided it's a bit too warm out and shed his outer robe. But since no one is carrying it, then one presumes that at least a stop was necessary to put it somewhere? So I'm going to count it.

Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing? Still in their clothes from earlier; no changes here.

In The Dress

Well. We all know how this one happened. ;D

For Reasons that have nothing to do with Li Lianhua wanting an excuse to wear a pretty dress, we swear, Li Lianhua has now changed clothes completely into the pomegranate wedding dress and is being helped over the suspiciously rough terrain by Di Feisheng.

Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing? Still in their outfits from earlier in the day.

After One Dunking and Before Another

And now this is the one I find truly interesting. Rather that change back into the green outfit that he was wearing before putting on the pomegranate wedding dress, the outfit that was Right There in the bride's room somewhere, Li Lianhua has presumably traveled all the way back to his room (or even Lianhualou?) to get a complete change of clothing. He's still sporting a white underrobe, but now he has a red middle robe, a matching red belt, and a white outerrobe that's so sheer one wonders why he even bothered.

(Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing? STILL in their outfits from earlier.)

But what I find so truly fascinating about this particular costume change (and it's going to spawn a fic at some point, I'm SURE of it), is that these are not Li Lianhua's colors. These are Li Xiangyi's colors. Li Lianhua tends to stick to earth and sky tones: soft greens and blues, creams and later whites, but he just... doesn't wear red. At all, really. Except for this one outfit and when he's being forced to resurrect Li Xiangyi for some reason or another.

Maybe it was his near drowning in the wedding dress that brought memories of Donghai to the surface, or maybe it was being so close to solving the mystery of his shixiong's missing body, or maybe it was traveling with Di Feisheng and the constant banter between them bringing up memories of the past, or maybe it was something else entirely, but something brought Li Xiangyi to the surface enough for Li Lianhua to don his colors. And I find that endlessly fascinating.