#mr. mo

UKIYO-E: BRUCE LEE

I was nervous. Because he was so excited. And I was bracing myself for having to pretend to be as excited as him because like...one time I wanted a smart watch and he bought me some off brand fit bit thing from Walmart that never worked. (Yes I'm fucking high maintenance. I like what I like.) So I put on my Teams meeting poker face.

But my husband bought me a fucking cello for Christmas. Because I've said over and over how much I want to learn the cello when I retire.

I'm like twenty years from retirement. The man was literally like "why wait? You deserve it".

And he didn't just buy me a cello, the fucker bought me a fucking mininalist electric cello with headphones and an amp.

I fucking love him.

He Tian: Why the rush to get home Little Mo?

Mo Guan Shan: No reason.

*Mo Guan Shan smiles, runs and jumps into his fathers arms. Leaving his bag on the ground*

He Tian: I guess I’ll just leave, see you tomorrow Guan Shan.

Mama Mo: Wait. He Tian stay for dinner with us.

He Tian: *Feeling Awkward* uh no that’s okay I don’t want to interrupt.

Dadddy Mo: He Tian? He Tian as your special friend He Tian?

Mo Guan Shan: Oh my gosh dad stop. I wouldn’t call him special much less my “friend”.

Daddy Mo: My son has told me a lot about you.

He Tian: You talk about me Little Mo?

Mo Guan Shan: No I don’t he’s lying! He just got out of prison, wouldn’t trust a word he says.

Daddy Mo: Please join us for dinner

He Tian: uh I-

Mo Guan Shan: If you thought mine and my mother’s cooking was good wait till you try my dads it’s the best. Come on, you practically eat with us everyday anyway.

He Tian: Okay

Daddy Mo: So He Tian, tell me everything about Guan Shan and his school life.

Mo Guan Shan: *groans*

He Tian: I have pelenty of stories to tell you.

And this may explain the still present distance after all those years between HT and MGS. As some may have mentioned before, Tianshan has been skyrocketing lately and as it's been shown in the artworks, this pair is usually portraire as a very intimated couple, so, if there were no so strict censorshipping added to how Old Xian tends to troll us, I may dare to say these two would be talking the "next steps" in less than two years, even less than that.

So I have some theories that may have already been theorizated by the fandom (but it's 1:00 am and my brain is asleep):

Mr. Mo's sentence and the He clan. This has been discussed a lot, but I'm still curious about it. Mo family's debts hasn't really been a deep discussed topic but Old Xian has shown of very significant moments mentioning it. Was MGS's father involved with the mafia? There was a deep meaning phrase in the chapter when MGS finally see his father after so many years, "a man able to touch sky (or something like that, bad memory... ). I may be over thinking it but, for me it sounds like Mr. Mo was a person willing to make his goals true, like MGS in the earstuds chapter!!! So that made him choose the wrong stick? Making deals with a group that ends up betraying him or that was involved in some dark deals that then, consumed him as a victim?. For what we know it's been a very long sentence and seeing how people has treated MGS all these years, as a potencial deliquent, Mr. Mo may has been sentence for more than just debts. It'd definitely be a hit in the jaw for MGS to know that HT's family was involved in his family's tragedy, and knowing how he is about confidence and emotional's walls, it'd certainly to a trial for them. MGS not wanting to get close to HT's world, HT resenting his family even more, or even HT's father coming to know his son's relationship with MGS and all the problem and finally forcing him to join for good threathing MGS and his Father¿? There is well know that Mafia has plenty of contacts in prisons...

Hello, dear anon!

I’m so sorry I’ve kept your ask waiting for so long because I’ve been taking a break from the inbox. Thank you very much for your patience!

I have talked about my take on the mafia side of 19 Days a couple of times by now:

He Cheng and Mr. Jian headcanons

Are Mr. Jian and Mr. He acquainted?

The He brothers and He Cheng kidnapping Jian Yi

About the mafia stuff in general in 19 Days

Could He Tian work for his family in the future?

I’m probably going to repeat some of the things but I would recommend checking out those previous asks.

“What do you think of the mafia side of manhua?”

I’m quite interested in it. First of all, it carries a lot of big plot elements and questions we have been waiting to be answered for years. The mafia storyline makes up a lot of the overall story of 19 Days, and I wish the comic would pick up the pace regarding that. I love seeing the relationships between the boys progress but I also feel like stretching the mafia storyline out for years can be risky when it comes to consistency.

As a writer, the mafia aspect also appeals to my personal aesthetics. Mafia stories have such great potential for dark, angsty, and mature characters and relationships. I think 19 Days has shown some great complexity and layeredness in regards to what is right and wrong, what is black and what is white. Some of the relationships revolve around seeing someone from another perspective while others have the undertones of torment and regrets when someone is being pulled in two directions. Those things are also partly why I wish the story would focus more on the mafia aspect again soon. There is so much untapped potential in there.

“Do you have any headcanon”

I don’t know if you could call the following things headcanons per se, they’re more like tentative theories. But close enough, I suppose.

I think the three families - Hes, Jians, and Mos - are connected

We already know that HC works for Mr. Jian but the reasons are unclear. I’ve always been a bit confused by it because I imagine that two such obviously powerful and well-off families would have a certain level of tension between them. But it seems they trust each other quite a lot. Mr. Jian trusts HC with the safety of his only son. I wonder what is the future vision for that dynamic, though. Is HC supposed to stop working for the Jian family at some point and take over the He family?

Or is the He family in general working for the Jian family? For some reason, I’m not sure if the He family is actually in the mafia. I think they could be people who have close partnership connections to the mafia. Maybe they provide something for the criminals (guns, political connections, influence?) and that relationship is beneficial for both parties. I think that would even make the moral dilemma more complicated. In a way, working for the evil and helping them for your own gain sounds worse than being the evil itself.

I also think it would also be interesting if the Mos were somehow connected to the Hes. I have this idea that maybe Mr. Mo got mixed up with some shady people if they were desperate for money, or something along those lines. Maybe the restaurant wasn’t doing so well or maybe they needed to pay protection fees. Maybe Mr. He tried to resist them and the bad guys decided to teach him a lesson? Either way, I have a hc of sorts that maybe Mr. Mo is in a prison ultimately because of the He family. Not directly but maybe the bad guys who trashed the restaurant worked for the He family (a subgroup or something). I think that would create an interesting situation if MGS and HT found about it. Or even if HT knew about it and that’s partly why he got interested in MGS.

What about She Li’s family?

I kind of have this idea that maybe SL’s family isn’t in the mafia. They’re just well-off based on legal business (bars and restaurants, and that’s why the father works so hard?) and perhaps they ended up coming across some shady families as a part of that. It could even be that those groups make SL’s parents uncomfortable and uneasy and they’re somewhat of an unavoidable evil to them. I have this idea that maybe his parents don’t know SL is involved with them on his own. Maybe he’s even used his parents’ business to hustle on the side and that’s how he got into the underworld in the first place. Maybe SL could even think that his parents are fools for not taking advantage of the other families and their positions.

Mr. and Mrs. Jian

The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Jian interests me quite a lot. It smells like the kind of “complicated” that appeals to me a lot in fiction. I like to think that they love each other very deeply and they’re partners but they’re also each other’s worst potential enemies. They’re both smart and strong but have the needed chips to hurt each other more than anyone else. They have a deep bond, tons of chemistry, and they’re drawn to each other but it’s also in both of their natures to do what’s needed if their arm is twisted.

Overall, I would say that the chapters about the boys walking down the corridors at school can be cute and funny but there’s a sea of compelling story elements out there to be discovered, and I kind of miss that.

where Mo Guanshan breaks into prison to help his father escape.

he simulates a bank robbery that the He family “ordered” him to do. his body is covered in tattoos that look normal, but are actually map. he tries to gain trust of man, who is the Jian’s family informant and use him to survive in this hell.

he has only few weeks, because Mr. Mo is sentenced to death.

roles:

Mo Guanshan - creates a plan, breaks into prison, escapes with his father He Tian - teachs Guanshan to fight, makes everyone think that MoMo works for mafia, protects Mrs. Mo Jian Yi - tells about contacts he has in prison and how to make those people trust and work with him, orders the map tattoo in the Jian’s family trusted tattoo artist Zhan Zhengxi - helps with creating plan, looks for evidence that will prove Mr. Mo's innocence and clear his name He Cheng - feeds sharks in the background

Hello Dear Anon! Sorry for late reply!

You asked about topics which are for me are like stepping on a thin ice of speculations: we have too few information about Mo’s father and his connections or lack of these connections to mafia ( or/and mr. He/mr. Jian shaddy business). All theories are on the same level of probability and it’s hard t choose which one is the best or most possible scenario. The list why mr. Mo ended in jail is too long and too random. Maybe, like you said we will never learn the real reason.

When we re-read that chapter most of things are still unsure here. With earlier obtained knowledge from Mo that his family owned family’s restaurant a lot of readers quickly assumed that flashback scene from restaurant is a scene exactly in Mo’s family’s place. But in reality nothing suggest that. It could be just a one of the fancy restaurants, where Mo with parents went for elegant dinner (maybe to celebrate something.. like… Mo’s birthday?) But it isn’t even important here. I just wanted to point out that detail to show the size of uncertainties. 

You said “I don’t think it’s bc he was on debt bc how like he was working on a fabulous restaurant with is wife that don’t make sense” and this one is exceptionally clear for me - the depts happened after father’s accusation, when he was already in the jail.

I don’t know how the courts works in China, but I think in all countries  it’s everywhere the matter of money. I belive Mo’s mom sold whole restaurant to pay off all cost connected to lawyer, maybe to pay also for bail (it’s a good word in eng for this?), maybe she used money to do everything to prevent jail’s penalty. 

But it didn’t worked (mr. Mo was guilty? Worked with mafia at all and partly gulity? Mafia meddled in? Bribery?) and Mo’s family situation looked like that: father in jail, mom without any money with small child, suddenly need to search for new work. She needed to take loans: maybe bc she couldn’t find a stabile job and couldn’t manage to life alone with small child? Maybe loans stratred when money for lawer ended before the end of the case? maybe despite the jail mr. Mo also had to pay high fine and they didn’t have enough for this? 

And that’s how debts started to grow.  

P.S. Sorry for mistakes and I friendly reminding that my askbox is closed and now I am responding to old asks!