#li cu

Men of Daomu Biji, 2026 Calendar

January: Li Cu

Art by @catznetsov

Fic 'Like Lanterns, Dim and Scattered' by @xiaogesword

to be honest, i can't explain why these two moments remind me of each other. possibly because both li cu and ling jiushi are fallible, fragile, fully mortal characters who have repeatedly had their asses handed to them and only barely scrambled to safety at the last possible second; because they have both have survived by their wits alone, survived where others have failed—so they've each earned the right to exactly one snarky barely-raised eyebrow? as well, both moments come near the ends of their respective dramas, sha hai/sand sea (2018) and the spirealm (2024) (but no real spoilers per se, especially if you have no idea what's going on anyway).

1. li cu (wu lei) in sha hai, playing opposite zhang meng as su nan:

2. ling jiushi (huang junjie) in the spirealm, with ruan lanzhu (xia zhiguang)

ultimately, i can't justify why these each of these tiny eyebrow flickers reminds me of the other, but i love them both. i thought about these microexpressions for months after i'd seen the dramas. there's something defiant in both of them, at this instant. li cu with his snide little “oh gosh, well what do you know, i was right after all: they don't give a fuck about you. or about either of us, really." and ling jiushi with his disbelieving, flaring moment of "oh really—so i’m supposed to choose between [redacted] and [redacted], huh. well it's a bullshit fucking choice so guess what, HOW ABOUT I DON'T."

"Hao-ge..." Su Wan says, in that tone of his that means he's somewhere between bursting into happy tears and curling up like a pangolin out of awkwardness.

Hao-ge, who hasn't looked at either of them in a full five minutes since he'd muttered something unintelligible under his breath and shoved the crudely-wrapped package into Su Wan's hands, says, gruffly, "Don't make a big deal about it."

Li Cu says nothing, but sucks obnoxiously loudly on his drink, ignoring the radiating phantom pain from the ice slurry pressing right against his teeth. Hao-ge shoots him a Look, and says, threatening, "I swear, if you—"

"I love it!" Su Wan bursts out. "Hao-ge, I'll make sure it never, ever, ever gets dusty, and I'll show Hei-ye, and—"

"It's just a toy," Hao-ge mutters, but his cheeks are flushing with a light pink. Li Cu gives him his best, Wu Xie-esque smile, and Hao-ge says, "Shut up."