#pei ming

volume 1:

he frequently cheats (page 94)

volume 3:

he seems to have a clear divide between women he is friends with(Ling Wen) and women he seduces(Xuan Ji + many others) since he reacts so defensively to the romantic play about him and Ling Wen. He respects Ling Wen, who he sees as his equal, and wouldn't consider sleeping with her. And, vice versa, he doesn't respect the women he sleeps with. (page 90)

shi wudu implies he is a sexual predator to be nervous about (page 198)

he loves women for their looks, never for their personalities (page 259)

volume 4:

he doesn't respect shi qingxuan's autonomy (page 93)

the narration tacitly affirms that his love affairs aren't normal one night stands but are instead conquests for him, where pei ming pursues a woman until he's charmed her heart, then he throws her away (page 119)

volume 5:

he believes women are objects to be used and discarded. (page 87)

he endorses/actively upholds sexist expectations of women's behavior (page 97)

he has never bothered to learn to cook. from this(& above), we can extrapolate that he has relied upon women to cook for him his whole life (page 98)

he touches women without asking. it's habitual, to the point where he doesn't seem to realize he's doing it. (page 110)

his trysts leave women "ruined," which could refer to the state of their bodies but since the context is a possible grudge, it's likely that it refers to him ruining women's lives when he pursues them. (page 117)

he's mocking and making fun of banyue for his own amusement. says, "aren't little girls made for teasing?" which is... so slimy. (page 132)

he can't keep his hands to himself. the context being that he picked up what he believed was a leg bone of a beautiful woman. (page 145)

he's continuously belittling Banyue despite her standing up for herself. (page 238)

he's dismissively condescending towards Xuan Ji by calling her anger a 'tantrum' (page 241)

he doesn't think highly of women, and finds it embarassing to need their help. (page 252)

despite obvious evidence that Lord Rain Master is perfectly capable of leading the corpse-eating rats away on her own, Pei Ming once again sees women as incapable. + the combo of Pei Ming and Hua Cheng's words makes it clear that being helped is upsetting to Pei Ming because Yushi Huang is a woman, and not because of the history between Xuli and Yushi. (pages 263-264)

volume 7:

he immaturely throws a fit when the Rain Master once again rescues him & tries to salvage his wounded pride by showing off(killing more rats than the Rain Master). once again, he can't accept a woman's competence. (page 231, page 236)

volume 8:

even post-canon, he still can't let go of his superiority complex. once again, the narration makes it clear that the main issue is that the Rain Master is a woman, and that it just adds insult to injury that they knew each other in their mortal lives. (page 96)

Summary:

Feng Xin had never meant to ascend.

He never wanted to, not after the disaster of Xie Lian’s ascension. Not after bearing witness to the wall of apathy against which the storm of his despair had crashed. Did he have his own doubts? Of course he had. He might have been a noble but he had also been a servant. And people are not as guarded around servants. As such, the idealism that his prince had harboured in his heart had never been part of Feng Xin’s upbringing. He had wanted to believe that they could make a difference.

Desperately.

Or: Feng Xin ascends without meaning to and finds himself grappling with grief and loss, more isolated than he ever thought possible. Until a certain someone decided to befriend him.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89885161