#shangou

I’m gonna see if I can match the people to their character in the title sequence as I meet them. So far these are my guesses.

I can’t work out who Wu Laogou is though of the options that are left.

I love the Wu Clan and their doggies already. Although that does make me wonder what the fuck happened for the Wu Clan to be extremely lacking in dogs in the future.

I will seriously enjoy it if this woman kills this old man. Like, she probably won’t but please I need him gone already he’s so slimy and icky.

Might seem a bit strange but because Zeng Shunxi has played Wu Xie my brain is trying to line his behaviour up with how Zhu Yilong portrayed an older Wu Xie in Sound of Providence. Also, Wu Laogou, don’t you currently hate Zhang Qishan?

And yet you’re throwing him winks, blatantly showing off, and showed up in THAT outfit. I mean I know Huo Xiangyu is here too but this feels like another ‘look how well I’m doing without you’ glow up appearance.

Seriously guys 😭 Idk Zhang Qishan maybe you can get your third back??? Wu Laogou doesn’t seem to be as over as you as he keeps acting like he is.

THE DOG IS JUST SO FREAKING CUTE ISTG IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THEM IM GONNA MAKE JOHN WICK LOOK LIKE A PACIFIST.

So if Pingxie make their relationship everyone’s problem by being ridiculously married, and Heihua make their situationship everyone’s problem by being borderline R Rated with their flirting, Shangou’s (I’m going with this until corrected) dramatic bisexual asses are making their break up everyone’s problem by whatever the fuck this was.

I will say though, it’s a little funny and sad that the Zhang Clan of the past played such a big role in investigating cryptic cases when, from what I’ve seen in the main timeline, they’ve all basically become cryptids themselves and their own patriarch is like Cryptid #1.

So he can’t read (yet) but he writes the Daomu Biji, no one’s doing it like him. Is the polycule gonna teach him how to read? I’m guessing that means Wu Laogou isn’t the scholar in the opening credits at any rate.

Zhang Qishan, you gotta remember that your ex-boyfriend and your other maybe ex-boyfriend aren’t Zhang’s 😭

Nooo let Ba Ye sing the praises of Zhang Xiaoyu…

Wu Xie, gonna be frank, maybe you shouldn’t do a spit take when the girl you want to marry brings up a marriage palanquin. And uuuuughhhh knowing that these two aren’t going to work out this feels like hella foreshadowing for their inevitable break up. It’s like a guillotine waiting to come down at any point in this show.

I’m still trying to determine what kind of relationship Ba Ye and Zhang Qishan have in th polycule because they’re not exes in the same way Wu Laogou and Zhang Qishan are but Ba Ye was NOT happy to hear from him.

OOH I LOVED GETTING SOME SNIPPETS ABOUT THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE NINE GIMME MORE OF THEM. I cant wait for the others to get involved in the plot as well. Also, from what I’ve gathered about Mystic Nine 1, Zhang Qishan and Eryue Hong were the main popular ship there?

Also thank you to @crimsonblue31 who told me that the titles in the intro go through in number order. So Wu Laogou is the Wandering Hero and, if I’m counting the seat numbers correctly in the group shot, Xie Yuchen’s grandad is the Scholar.

WHERE IS THE FLUFFY BOY

I love Qi Tiezui he’s so funny. I kind of love how he was basically treating their trip down the waterway as a borderline slumber party with the way he was trying to talk to the other two and completely missing the skulls in the ceiling.

What did he do wrong 😭😭😭 he got the skull just like you asked for.

I’m sorry. Zhang Qishan and Wu Laogou are doing a “ritual” officiated by Ba Ye at an altar in front of witnesses...

IT’S AN UNORTHODOX WEDDING BUT WE’VE HAD WEIRDER.

The officiant’s head got eaten by a giant snake god at Zhang Hailou and Zhang Haixia’s wedding.

See maybe you don’t actually want Zhang Qishan to leave the mystic nine after all? And when I said foreshadowing earlier, I kind of meant that it was foreshadowing that Huo Xiangu and Wu Laogou weren’t actually meant for one another. I didn’t think it would foreshadow Zhang Qishan being vanished by the tower and Wu Laogou immediately deciding to go and get him. 😭

And what the hell is up with the skull

Bonus Crack:

Excuse me what the actual fuck is that

He’s getting sucked back in. Hopefully the reason Xiangu and Laogou break up isn’t because he reconnects with Zhang Qishan because I’m still kinda down for their relationship even though I know it’s doomed ;-;

Okay, listen. I know that Foba (?) is a really popular ship here but I’m kinda enjoying what these two have going on as well 😭 how large is this polycule? Is the ship name for these two BaYu?

Incredible that even when one of them isn’t there they’re still making whatever’s wrong with them everyone else’s problem.

Did this show really just imply that Qishan and Laogou are basically two sides of the same coin? Also, I’m down for Ba Ye being involved in the polycule too (though atm I’m mainly shipping him masked Zhang). I’m trying to figure out how he feels about all this since he tired avoiding Zhang Qishan at all costs but he’s nowhere near as antagonistic towards him as Wu Laogou is.

I mean it feels like Zhang Qishan fucked up the relationship there too but nowhere near as extreme.

I SWEAR TO CHRIST IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THAT DOG-

They’re getting their groove back on. Maybe they’ll have bonded after they get out of this place! If Daomu Biji has taught me anything it’s that tombs make excellent date spots. And I’m sorry but all roads lead back to Heihua I’m afraid.

The way Wu Laogou backed away from that ledge, I suppose unlike his grandson he can’t just jump off a high ledge and know that his Zhang boyfriend is going to catch him.

WOOHOO WE’RE BACK SNAKE BULLSHITTERY THIS IS WHY I COME HERE. And for the shipping. But also the snakes. And nevermind I guess maybe Zhang Qishan would’ve caught him lmao.

Unorthodox honeymoon destination for Shangou but we’re rolling with it. Also, I take back what I said in Ultimate Note. I think this snake might actually be the Mother of All Snakes.

Also, i don’t think Wu Laogou wants Zhang Qishan gone as much as he insists he does. The Lady Doth Protest Too Much..

See, tombs make great dating locations. Theyre learning so much about one another. This side of the polycule is patching itself together nicely!

Well now they’re just blatantly flirting??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S MORE ADORABLE NOW???

I do wonder who in the polycule is going to teach Wu Laogou to read since he is the one to write the Daomu Biji in the future.

As I said before, I am aware that Farewell My Concubine is an actual opera but I still don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s one of the ones that gets brought up in this very shippable series.

I’m gonna find it so funny if after all the Wu and Zhang bickering that they reunite with Zhang Qishan and Wu Laogou only to find out that they’ve fully made up again and now they all have to keep working together because their parents remarried.

I do feel a bit bad for Ba Ye and Huo Xiangu who’ve been left babysitting them all though 😭

Well that definitely wasn’t Wu Laogou but that’s how I’m deciding the interpret the messaging that the spooky ghosts are trying to give lmaooo.

Don’t worry Zhang Qishan, I’m sure you’ll fix this relationship somehow!